Federal Government invested in GM wheat

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Last Updated Fri, 28 Nov 2003 22:49:20
WINIPPEG - Agriculture Canada invested nearly $2.5 million in genetically modified wheat and stands to make money if it approves the product for sale, CBC News has learned.

INDEPTH: Food Fight

The multinational agribusiness Monsanto has appled to the department to sell the seed. The wheat is modified so it resists Monsanto's Roundup weed killer.

According to documents obtained through access to information, the government department: committed $850,000 to Monsanto to develop GM seeds; provided unfettered access to test the crops in the department's fields; assigned thee key scientists to work with Monsanto on the wheat. If the Canadian Food Inspection Agency approves the grain for sale, Agriculture Canada will get nearly five per cent of the money. The agency is part of the department but operates at arm's length.

That puts the government in a conflict of interest, said Bradford Duplessis of the Canadian Health Coalition, which opposes GM foods. "Government regulators cannot be in bed with the industry they regulate," he said. Having promotion and regulation under one roof is a "recipe for disaster."

FROM JAN. 8, 2003: Monsanto officially asks to grow GM wheat

But John Cully, the department's director of intellectual property, said the department can manage the conflict. Murray Fulton, an agricultural economist at the University of Saskatchewan, said the government's involved because "they feel a new technology is coming along, it needs to be supported because they believe, down the road, there will be some benefits to society." Written by CBC News Online staff

Copyright � CBC 2003

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