GM triffid Flax... who is responsible?

[checking]

I believe that most humans become fussy only when they latch on to an opinion, or if you feel entitled to it, a fact. Otherwise, it's usually out of sight, out of mind for most of us. Kind of like pouring waste oil down a gopher hole.

There was a ten plus year time frame between the development of triffid, and the discovery of triffid in flax shipments to the EU. The rejectionists have all consumed it for a decade, blissfully unaware of it's parts/million presence, and its hidden danger that has yet to manifest itself. Instead of slamming science for triffid, some should be embracing it for developing a test for finding triffid traces.

[parsley]

Why complicate things?

Simply demand that the Government of Canada send Fran and checking on a mission over to a special EU meeting. Tell them they are stupid. Tell them they have eaten Triffid for 10 years and they have not died. Tell them you will NOT test any more flax, and that the EU will indeed buy the flax untested and they will like it. Be tough. Don't leave any room for mistaken a sihgn of weakness. Lay out a five year plan of sales. Demand they replace their stupid bureaucrats, and tell them organic consumers are dumb and misguided and fanatical. Both of you are superbly convincing, and will make all EU consumers want to line up to buy Canadian flax. Sales are bound to soar. Both of you will without a dount, change the way the EU views importing flax. You are such sweet talkers.

Saves multi dollar Triffid testing costs.

WANTED: Handfulls of Triffid flax to sprinkle in organic shipments. Will pay up to $220.00/pound for high germinating Triffid. email parsley.

[Fransisco]

Looks like you're a pretty good sweet-talker yourself there parsley. LOL

[Fransisco]

If it gets any sweeter I think I'm going to get diabetes.

[parsley]

A short spell of diabetic coma may be just the cure you need to improve your logic. LOLOLOL

[TOM4CWB]

CP,

Not one pound of my: select, foundation, registerd, or certified Sorrel flax has been sold. 8000bu.

First came this:
"20 Jan 2010 ... The Canadian-developed Triffid flax was to be destroyed after Canada ... with Triffid at the breeder seed level (varieties Normandy and Mons). ... The Flax Council of Canada is trying to persuade Europe to increase the ...":

Then...


Had you forgot the notice from Secan?

March 4 post 'Guess what Flax Growers'

"The Crop Development Centre continues to test its breeder seed lots in order to provide accurate information to seed growers and flax producers. The CDC has retested certain seed lots of CDC Bethune, CDC Sorrel, and CDC Sanctuary, using the recently-approved more intensive testing procedure recommended by Flax Council of Canada. This more intensive testing program, based on multiple sub-samples of each seed lot, has indicated that CDC Triffid is present at extremely low and sporadic trace levels in all breeder seed lots tested of CDC Bethune, CDC Sorrel and CDC Sanctuary.



We reiterate that these new reports are of sporadic and low trace levels, below the 0.01% level, in the range of an estimated 1 to 2 seeds per million seeds.



The CDC will continue to test all new flax breeder seed lots for the presence of CDC Triffid prior to distribution. ..."

By my count CP... that is 5. Sanctuary was a brand new variety... that had not even been released yet into the commercial system.

Breeder seed contamination... has NOTHING to do with farmer pedigreed seed growers. We get the breeder seed from the plant breeders... not from other farmers!


I have heard of numerous other varieties.... NOT from CDC Saskatoon... that had very low trace level GM contamination.

The Liberals think they are confused?

Here is an article:

"Liberal Confusion Persists on GM Flax
Is the biotech industry deliberately misleading Members of Parliament?

April 11, 2010, Canadian Biotechnology Action Network, www.cban.ca/flax

In the admittedly complex story of Canada’s GM flax contamination crisis, Liberal MPs have lost the plot. Or have they been misled?

Escalating pressure from the biotech industry to stop Bill C-474 could be leading some Members of Parliament astray. Despite the clear fact that genetically modified (GM) “Triffid” flax was approved for sale in Canada in 1996 and then “deregistered” in 2001, some Liberal MPs are incorrectly stating that Triffid was never approved for sale in Canada.

Correcting this information is vital to understanding the link between the current GM flax contamination crisis and the need for Bill C-474. Perpetuating this false information feeds into the hands of an industry is fighting against any debate on the Bill.

Bill C-474 would support Canada’s farmers by requiring that “an analysis of potential harm to export markets be conducted before the sale of any new genetically engineered seed is permitted.” In September and October 2009, GM contamination in Canada’s flax exports shut down our markets.

MPs need to understand that the GM flax called Triffid was approved for sale in Canada via variety registration in 1996, making it legal to sell the seeds in Canada. (Variety registration was granted after Triffid was also approved for environmental safely and for animal food, but before it was approved for human consumption.)

Variety registration remained intact until April 1, 2001 when it was removed at the behest of flax farmers. In 2001, the last of 200,000 bushels of Triffid seed was collected and crushed, meaning that GM flax seed was still being reproduced or stored up until that point. That is almost 5 years of commercial status and contamination risk.

The history of GM flax clearly shows the need for Bill C-474.

GM Triffid flax was developed (at the University of Saskatchewan) without a mandate from flax farmers, and these farmers knew it would destroy their European export market – which represents 60-70% of our flax exports.

Flax farmers took the only step they could to remove Triffid from the market; they pressured the University that developed the seed and owned the patent, to have it deregistered. This was not an easy road for flax farmers but official deregistration finally happened on April 1, 2001.

If Bill C-474 had been in place by 1996, GM flax seed may never have been permitted for sale and the current flax contamination crisis could have been prevented. The government would have had a mandate to assess the potential economic harm that GM technology in flax could cause. Instead, flax farmers were put in the position of trying to argue their case and find a way to take the GM seed off the market before the inevitable happened.

A point that may be adding to confusion is the fact that, though it was legal to sell the GM flax seeds in Canada from 1996-2001 and the seeds were being reproduced, the GM flax was not actually grown on a commercial scale. The Triffid seed was being reproduced for future commercial production. The unfortunate fact remains however that the seed was legal to sell, was being grown, and resulted in the widespread contamination that flax farmers fought to prevent.

This situation is further complicated by the fact the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has few records of this history and has no intention of issuing any statements to set the record straight. The CFIA did not exist when Triffid flax was registered in 1996 and has no official records from that time. The CFIA was in force to deregister Triffid in 2001 but says it has no mandate to issue information to the public about the flax contamination crisis. This lack of government mandate is one problem that Bill C-474 could correct.

The biotech industry is additionally sowing seeds of confusion by touting an industry voluntary recall of pedigreed seed of Triffid flax in 1998-2000. (“Protocol for Testing Pedigreed Seed for the Presence of GM Flax in Canada”, January 2010, Dale Adolphe, Canadian Seed Growers Association).

But this recall did not change the official status of Triffid as legal seed, nor did it stop seed growers from reproducing Triffid. Whatever the seed industry says about a voluntary recall, this step was obviously not enough to protect flax farmers from GM contamination (and in 2001, there was still Triffid seed that needed crushing).

The fact is that Bill C-474 would have required an assessment of export market harm before sale of Triffid seed was permitted. The result of this analysis would have been the conclusion that flax farmers had already reached, and has now come to pass: GM Triffid flax would destroy Canada’s biggest export market of Europe, where we send 60-70% of our flax.

Still to this day, there is no mechanism to evaluate the economic risk of a GM technology, no government mandate to stop the sale of GM seeds that could destroy our export markets, and no protocol for recalling approved seeds in order to try to stop contamination.

GM Flax Timetable

Though the CFIA has refused to issue any public statements about the flax crisis, CFIA officials have verified the below timeline of events produced by the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network :

GM Triffid flax was approved for commercialization via variety registration in 1996, making the seeds legal to sell in Canada. Variety registration remained until April 1, 2001 when it was removed at the behest of flax farmers. Additionally, the last of 200,000 bushels of Triffid seed worth at least $2.5 million was not rounded up from farms across the Prairies and crushed until early 2001. ("GM Flax Seed Yanked Off Canadian Market - Rounded Up, Crushed" by Jason Warick, The StarPhoenix, June 23, 2001).

1996: GE “CDC Triffid” flax granted environmental release approval from Agriculture Canada (The CFIA was not yet formed).
1996: Triffid flax was approved for animal feed – animal health assessment and worker health and safety, handling – by Agriculture Canada.
1996: Triffid flax was granted variety registration by Agriculture Canada, making it legal to sell the seeds.
1998: Health Canada approved Triffid for human consumption.
2001 (April 1): Triffid was deregistered by the CFIA, making it illegal to sell the seeds in Canada.'

Every one is confused. This article does not come close to revealing how our seed and fields got contaminated!

How did this GM event get in the flax breeder seed that has been distributed since 2001? I am told no triffid breeder seed was produced after 1997... and the area it was grown in at CDC Saskatoon has not grown any flax seed since 1998!

What happened?

[checking]

To date I haven't participated in the flax testing program. Nor do I intent to enrich the present process of useless testing that only gets us to .01%. Nor do I intend to increase my present stockpile. However, at some point it will become available to a buyer as a tainted product by EU standards. If they accept it as such, we will make a deal. I will be done with growing it, and my first loss will be my smallest.

Parsley, have you not followed the information of Tom's posts, and that of others who clearly state that our varieties of flax are contaminated down to the breeder level? One could logically believe that the EU regulators down to the EU consumers are aware of this, as well.

Only the stupid ones, that don't wear helmets, would believe that any flax shipments from North America are pure because they have been tested. If any of our flax has made it onto EU shelves since this story broke, then this is definitely not a food safety issue for them. I'd call it BS. What would you call it?

[parsley]

Will flax cross with canola? Will canola cross with mustard? Will one event cross with another event? How many events are already gone out of control at the most elite multiplication level?

How many events gone a-wandering have not even been registered? How many unregistered events are already stacked one on top of the other? Several chemicals joined? Traits co-mingled? Genetic cocktails? Multi-traits working one against the other and causing harm to living beings?

Lawsuits sit idling.

Buyer-testing in countries buying contaminated grain will eventually and inevitably reveal more bad news, but only when foreign buyers test, reveal and complain...and threaten to sue. Canada will feign shock and surprise when caught and confronted.

Patent owners were concerned about downloading that liability before they get caught again.

The flax fiasco was about who that future bad news will be downloaded upon, it turned out to be Farmer Joe, as well as setting a precedent for the future, and of course, the standard concern-response optics for the ag community murmuring feigned concern. But essentially no response, no apology, no visibility, no care.

Those same folks could care less they ruined a market, or will ruin another market, and they don't care if Tom's seed flax was sold down the river for a nickel.Ordinary farmers are there to SUPPLY the commodity and STFU

The big dollars lie in two areas: in grabbing all available agricultural government grant money, and in supplying chemicals to modified crops. These are the biggies.

A few select farmers will make good on seed but eventually they will get cut out. Testing can make some good coin, but the biotech companies will own the test equiopment.

But avoiding liability by passing it on to someone else, prevents bigtime troubles, and was a major focus.

Farmers are paying for testing that only reveals what you are allowed to know. You have no access to results because you didn't demand them or write them into your testing contract. You pay, but know no details, or even if the results are authentic. It's such a raw deal. And so corrupt. My OPINION only. The people who arranged all this on the ordinary farmers' behalf, IN MY OPINION, have to be 100% turfed out before any meaningful change will occur.

IMHO, Farmer-paid tests were part of a deal made before the first flax test sample was even sent in. This isn't about flax test results at all. They knew full well what the testing results were because testing has been done at port for yars, for every shipment ..the trade, governments, biotech co's, a group of seed growers, and CDC at the university of Sask...every one of them knew that Triffid was commercially comingled; this was no surprise.

It probably was "When will we get caught?"

My guess, as uneducated as it is, and only my personal farmer opinion, and what do I know, is that flax contamination by stealth was no accident. In my very humble opinion, and it is ONLY an opinion, is that contamination was a purposefull act and one that will be repeated in the future, with each and every crop and variety.

You are dealing with clever, manipulative shareholders's representatives who's only goal is a profitable bottom line. Duty of care was the only legal item that needed to be downloaded. IMHO. It has been.

Triffid downloading costs/liability is so far, a successful trial for all of them, and a disaster for ordinary farmers. You have NO idea if YOU will be targetted as "infected", or your tests deemed "positive" by an "official" test-result, or if the results are real or concocted.

A ship tests positive and Farmwer Schmuck 's test result pops up positive. Surprise! Yes, well. Happy days in court.

THis is merely an opinion, but one that's a good enough reason, in my mind, for my testiness.

And I'll hanker a guess you pretty much already guessed the extent of contamination before the results dwindled in, checking.

Where farming is heading is rotten for conventional, ordinary farmers, checking, you're way smart enough to know that, but I will again reiterate, all my ramblings are just an opinion.
Pars

[Jay-mo]

Quote "1. Well, Kodiak, if your wife's cupboards were delivered and installed and they were bright orange painted plywood, instead of the walnut ones she'd ordered, should the cupboard company use your argument as follows, and confront your wife:

"need a refresher. Did some Kodiaks die somewhere - or develop plywood tumors? Have some babies been born deformed because their mothers cooked on plywood cupboards? Did someone die, or even get seriously ill? Has a renowned scientist found plywood caused carcingens in any foods or houses - of any kind? What about the livingroom? Same questions. bedroom? bathroom? Basement? Beer? French cheeses? Penicillin?"

If you still cannot understand try thios one:" unquote

What a terrible analogy, a more accurate one would be ordering your walnut cabinets and getting walnut cabinets only to have them examined with an electron microscope and ,horror of horrors, finding a nanometer sized speck of orange paint on the back side of the lazy susan!

Do you think the cabinet maker would have a good reason to feel they are dealing with a total slimeball?

[charliep]

Maybe you were very happy with the cabinets you purchased but a government bureaucrat found there was a 1 in a million chance that some some might catch their finger in the door handle/cut it and they made the decision to pull the product.

Will note that ultimately it should be the customer who decides whether product should be imported or not. Suspect that the European linseed oil crushers would import product if they could. I also suspect that linmeal would be fed to livestock the same way GE soybean meal is today (with registered genetic events and EU approval). Strangely, the linseed oil demand still exists and is being supplied by Canadian flaxseed crushed in the US and China.

Way off topic. You are trying to determine who pays and how much.