Flax?

[Fransisco]

Bucket,the marker they found is common for a number of GM crops. It may be triffid,it may be something else. It may be somebodies fault,it may be an accident or something completely out of everyones control. We just don't know yet. I think we will,but it might take some time.

There is a very strong incentive to get to the bottom of this.I don't see anyone just dropping it.

[Fransisco]

Pars,you're being silly again,eating a gene has never had any kind of effect on anyone. You can't get high on DNA.

Once we have enough evidence we can talk about smuggling. But right now you're just guessing.

The reason I keep coming back to the EU zero tolerance rules is that its one of the ways we can fix the problem so we don't have to go through this again.

But maybe your not interested in that.

[Fransisco]

Zero tolerance means that what happened to flax can happen to any shipment, of any crop, at any time. Like I said before, it is very relevant, and if it doesn't change things like this are going to happen again and again and again.

Personally I think we need the European marketplace and they need us. It's a two way relationship and as such we should be able to come to some kind of a reasonable agreement.

[Choice2U]

I still don't understand how organic flax would be affected by this. Parsley, you say that there is a definite paper trail right from cradle to grave with organics. If so, why would there be any concern by the EU about a genetic marker showing up in organics seeing as there is NO way that an organic grower could get away with breaking the rules. Seems that if the EU is painting the commercial, non IP'd flax with the same brush as they paint the organic IP process, then they are just using this for their own political/trade tarriff purpose. For the organic industry to be hurt by this shipment, either the EU doesn't trust Canada's organic certification process or the EU is playing politics. This assumes there is no cross pollination issue between organics and conventional and so far it seems that the problem was not cross pollination but rather someone possibly trying to sneak something through the conventional system.

[parsley]

Yes there is a paper trail.
Effects:

Just found this choice4U,
1. There is insect pollination. Over the years it can add up to a lot of seeds and multiply exponentially..
2. Many conventional seedgrowers have their cleaning plants become certified and they clean both organic and conventional flax. Risk.
3. Reputation. "Did you hear about the food poisining in Widget's restaruant? " "Hey, Canadians developed GM Triffid flax."
4. Organic growers have purchased seedstock from seedgrowers. Have any seedgrowers been Triffid growers? Trucks. Combines. Bins etc.

From what I sense, organics is going to be okay. But the overall image of Canadian flax is tarnished. Pars