Anyone test positive for Triffid?

[boarderbloke]

just wondering if anyone has received their results on the Flax/Triffid test? anybody have flax that has tested positive? if so what are your options and are local grain buyers taking it with your notice that it's contaminated? still waiting on my results but getting anxious. will it have more value if it tests negative??

[bucket]

Thanks for reminding me about that - my test still isn't back.

[Sweets]

Yes there are positive tests I've heard of. And from what I know the grain buyers are still taking the product, but that product cannot go on a shipment into Europe.

[boarderbloke]

are positive tests showing up in specific geographical areas?

[Zaphod]

Sorry to break the news, but Triffid showed up in Europe again, but this time the source was Russia. Hmm, has Johnny Linseed been traveling around the globe?

[LWeber]

This is going to be ugly before its over.

How much of your research money is going to projects for new research, then CDC whatever is then bastardized by exporting in small quantities to foreign countries.

Russians claim seed came from Canada. Who shipped flaxseed to Canada?

Find that answer - and the start of the ugly can begin.

[tipsy]

I just had 2 target-master triggered,and have to have the flax iam delivering tested. I sent my samples this week and iam told getting results could be up to a month. Not expecting any surprises,but,your right there should be a premium if test is negative. Iam demanded to have my grain tested,so I can deliver, to satisfy someones curiosity and iam then stuck with the bill. This is one hell of a good deal for someone ,but not me!

[Fransisco]

From Agriweek

Flax fix
If you can’t get rid of it, learn to live with it

The Canadian Grain Commission, after an extensive sampling of commercial flax stocks for traces of the genetically modified variety Triffid, which brought on a de facto ban on Canadian flax exports to Europe, concluded that contamination is at very low levels but widespread. The Commission collected 119 composite samples of flax from primary, terminal
and transfer elevators, vessel shipments, rail cars and harvest samples from producers of the 2008 crop. Eleven tested positive. The investigation was unable to trace any of them back to a particular source. No geographic pattern was found in the positive samples. Since Dec. 1 most grain companies are accepting only flax that has been tested and found free of Triffid. Laboratories approved for this service have found results similar to those of the Grain Commission with about one sample in 10 to 15 showing minute Triffid traces.

There is no evidence that Triffid contamination originated in the seed system, but neither is there any proof that it did not. In fact seed growers were the only ones to receive original Triffid seed. Commercial production was never permitted. The Grain Commission will continue to test flax as it is loaded on export vessels for certification under the trade protocol
agreed to by Canada and the European Union. But because of the way the bulk grain handling system works, the origin
of the Triffid contamination probably will never be known. There are undoubtedly small amounts of all crops in the system that were grown before the turn of the century. It follows that sizable quantities of flax containing traces of the GMO variety were accepted in Europe for years before specific testing began last summer. The real problem is the EU policy of zero tolerance for unapproved GMO materials.

The good news is that in a relatively short time a system was devised to test and certify outgoing shipments to the satisfaction of EU authorities, preventing a threatened collapse of exports to Europe. Flax trade and prices should begin to normalize once the St. Lawrence Seaway opens in March and shipments resume.

[Fransisco]

In a touch old but related news. I thought these were the folks who are supposedly the most "concerned" about GMO's in their food.

http://www.agcanada.com/Article.aspx?ID=14440

Monday, November 23, 2009 | BY MISCHA POPOFF

<b>Test For GMOs But Don’t Bother With Organics</b>

The Europeans have no shame. They’re backing their resistance to genetically modified crops with lab testing but when it comes to accepting organic shipments they just take everyone’s word for it on paper.

According to EU policy, regular flax shipments will all be tested and will be rejected if merely one seed in 10,000 is found to contain a trace of an unapproved GM strain. Premium-priced organic crops will continue to go untested.

Anti-GM activists want an unscientific, de-industrialized, anti-corporate food production system.

These activists infiltrated an otherwise legitimate organic movement founded by such European scientific luminaries as German agronomist Albrect Daniel Thaer (1752-1828), the first to advance the humus theory of plant nutrition, British botanist Sir Albert Howard (1873-1947) who brought the concept of compost inoculation to the West, and Lady Eve Balfour (1899-1990) who conducted scientific comparisons between conventional and organic methods over 30 years.

Rather than build on these empirical foundations, the organic activists resort to politics. The rules of what’s alleged to be good for the planet have been finalized by the highest federal authorities. The science, they claim, is settled. No organic field testing required! Imagine that.

Organic crops are never tested to ensure they’re genuine or to drive improvement. Adequate hardly begins to describe it. Pay your fees, complete the forms and (presto!) you’re “certified,” and free to sell at a premium.

And yet European activists see nothing contradictory in demanding we test crops here in Canada to make sure they contain effectively no trace of GM contamination. Our authorities have chosen to play along with the charade, the goal of which is not only the suppression of the valid science of genetic engineering, but the suppression of all science and the deindustrialization of agriculture.

With a condescending pat on the head from the European Union, mass testing of Canadian flax will now become the norm. Meanwhile, toxic pesticide contamination in a certified organic harvest which is known to cause harm (unlike GM technology which is safe), well that’s just fine. And illicit synthetic fertilizer use, the easiest and most lucrative way to cheat on organic certification whether you’re Canadian, Mexican or Chinese? Well, that’s fine too.

Farmers are assured that when GM flax is discovered the industry will assist in selling it into a market that will accept it. But by caving in we have just shrunk that market, and ceded the moral high ground to the Europeans. We’re agreeing it’s right to reject science except when using it to fight GM technology.

Ironic? Hold onto your hat. European scientists developed all the basic components of modern-day, conventional agriculture. The ammonia synthesis process that pulls nitrogen from the air, the first herbicides and pesticides, even the lion’s share of crop breeding prior to the 1960s are all of European intellectual origin.

The only reason the Europeans are opposed to genetic engineering is that their scientists didn’t come up with it.

Canadian authorities will say they had no choice. But Canadians will think otherwise when the activists finally get their way and the advancement of farming is stopped altogether.

Mischa Popoff is a former organic inspector based in Osoyoos, B.C.

[parsley]

I'll revise the quote....this would be apropos:

"The good news is that in a relatively short time a system was devised to test and certify outgoing shipments ......{but mainly it established the precedent for all future GMO testing in all grain to be downloaded on, yup, farmers}......without a squawk!

And at $105.00 a pop per sale, per grain, per year, my oh my, it is way better returns than selling seed to a bunch of disgruntled yokels when they bag some and hide it in a bin for next year.

Genetic testing will be worth investing in. Right? pars

[parsley]

Well, popon is popped off, I'm afraid. Unfortunately, inspectors are graded, and rely on their credentials and reputation and references to get work, so he's a little testy these days, I believe.

Gossip says... organics are testing flax, fran. Genetic ID. $105 a pop, One week.

Don't tell popon though, he'll get really pissy. pars

[Fransisco]

Oh, "gossip says". Well then what was I thinking. Ha!

[parsley]

Yes. I am gossip.

And one company I spoke with before Christams is exporting flax...but tested flax only .

Organics wants to make sure we don't have Triffid.

You see, some organic growers have purchased registered/certified seed from conventional seed growers.

And how dependable is that?

Right.

[Fransisco]

I'm sure some are.

The point though is that, according to the EU anyways, they don't have to.

It's a bit ironic, or perhaps cynical is the better word, that buyers and sellers of conventional flax who aren't concerned about this have to test, yet the organic community gets to do whatever it wants, no questions asked, no government harassment. What that means is that this whole mess is not really about the GMO's.

[parsley]

Surely you realize that organic production entirely disallows genetically modified seed. Always have.

And certified/registered seed growers are well aware of the requirement.

Therefore, since organics don't propogate GM or allow GM production, it was considered a waste of time testing for it. All production is documented.

However, because registered seed growers have not followed their required protocol a risk appeared in November. Organic farmers are addressing the risk.

Perhaps if you were as critical of the seed growers who have avoided responsibility for the mess we are in, the Triffid puke could be cleaned up.

I am concerned over the financial losses a lot of farmers were hit with because they were depending on flax to pay their bills. Both organic and conventional.

Are you concerned? Or questioning why ordinary farmers should be paying for testing costs? It's not their mess! Pars