Seed contamination raises control issues

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Seed contamination raises control issues;

Sustainable ag group says gene-altered soybeans spilled onto non-GMO

stocks

 

Mikkel Pates

Agweek Staff Writer

Grand Forks Herald

November 18, 2002

 

 

FARGO, N.D. A group critical of genetically modified crops say North

Dakota State University's Foundation Seedstocks Program has been

contaminated with genetically modified crops, so perhaps it cannot

be trusted to segregate GM and non-GM wheat seed.

 

NDSU officials acknowledge a problem occurred, but say it was

properly handled. They say soybean and wheat programs are not

regulated the same for GM characteristics, and that proper

precautions are in place.

 

Theresa Podoll, executive director of the Northern Plains

Sustainable Agriculture Society, sent out a news release Nov. 11

saying the NDSU's non-GMO, Natto-type soybeans planted in 2002 may

have been contaminated with GM beans.

 

Natto beans are specialty soybeans destined for premium food grade

markets. The society includes 367 members, largely from North Dakota

but including neighboring states and provinces.

 

Most are certified organic producers, but some are in the organic

grain trade, or even land-grant universities and agencies. The group

has been a strong opponent of the commercialization of GM wheat,

much of which must be exported to countries and buyers who don't

want it.

 

Natto is a Japanese food product made from fermented whole soybeans.

 

The Japanese steam and ferment the beans and add a bacteria to make

a baked-type product.

 

Nornatto and Nannonatto are two NDSU varieties, both released for

commercial use in January.

 

Two lots of non-GMO Natto beans were found contaminated with

Monsanto's Roundup Ready soybean genetics, Podoll says. NDSU

officials say sufficient steps have been taken to minimize the

problem and avoid repeating it.

 

" In soybeans, we make every effort to prevent contamination and if

it occurs we correct it, " says M. Dale Williams, director of NDSU

Foundation Seedstocks.

 

" Roundup Ready are two different animals, " Williams says. " Roundup

Ready soybeans are not regulated. Small amounts of it, or tolerances

of amounts, are allowed in most markets. It's not approached with

the same amount of diligence as Roundup Ready wheat. "

 

Natto beans

 

The soybean contamination occurred in the winter of 2000 to '01,

when the Natto beans were sent to Chile for seed increase.

 

The seeds then were shipped to North Dakota in 2001 and planted at

NDSU's Agronomy Seed Farm near Casselton. Those fields produced some

off-type plants, but GMO was not suspected, Williams says. Later,

when some of the larger, off-type seeds were " scalped " off to be

discarded, some of them tested positive for GMO. Natto beans are

characteristically small.

 

Foundation seed from " rogued " 2001 fields were tested and no GMO was

detected, Williams says. In 2002, seeds from those fields were sold

to about 10 growers who would plant them for export or seed

increase.

 

When the Agronomy Seed Farm produced its own seed in 2002, it again

was screened for size and again there were GMO positives in the

large seeds. In late October, Williams phoned the 2002 customers to

inform them " there could be a minor presence " in lots they were

sold.

 

" Although we did not anticipate that the minor amounts that were

indicated by what we'd found in our fields would ever be enough to

be detected in very sensitive tests, we wanted them to know so that

the 'scalpings' of very largest seed should not be saved because

they might have the presence of the transgenics in them. "

 

Williams says the response from the growers was " very positive, "

that they were glad to be informed.

 

PrecautionsWilliams says any contamination was in the seed from

Chile. NDSU suspects the cooperating Chilean company that produced

the seeds, possibly by not cleaning combines. " The seed we got from

Chile had the contamination in it. They could have been careless in

a number of steps, " Williams says.

 

He says NDSU has changed Chilean cooperators and is starting to test

advanced breeding lines as a potential precaution.

 

Podoll says Williams told her there would be more on-site

inspections of cooperators. " That raises the issue of who's going to

pay those costs, " Podoll says.

 

She says foundation seedstocks should develop its own set of

protocols on how to avoid such contamination, and how to handle

contamination when it occurs.

 

Williams says sufficient precautions are in place. He says the

program has increased cold storage stocks of non-GMO soybean breeder

seed by six times.

 

" We have sufficient stocks to go back into immediate production with

a clean source, if a presence is detected, " Williams says.

 

Starting in 2002, the program started testing all its breeder seed

and all production. Foundation seedstocks are literally

the " foundation for entire seed system, " Podoll says. She says

contamination " strikes at the very heart of the segregation

argument. "

 

Podoll says she's troubled by the fact that the " decision to destroy

these foundation lots has not been made, " despite " statements made,

early this spring, that if foundation seedstocks were to become

contaminated with transgenic varieties that they would be

destroyed. "

 

Podoll says, " It looks like they intend to go ahead with putting

them on the market and not recalling them, and/or destroying any

seedstocks they have in their possession at this time. "

 

Drastic measuresTed Helms, an NDSU soybean breeder who developed

NDSU's Natto bean varieities, says such drastic measures probably

would not applied to soybeans, but would involve wheat seeds,

because GM wheat seed cannot be legally exported.

 

Robert B. Sinner, president of SB & B Foods Inc. of Casselton, who

specializes in identity-preserved shipments of food grade soybeans,

acknowledges contamination is a problem. He says the North Dakota

State Seed Department must take precautionary measures when

certifying and registering seed to " not only verify purity of the

variety but also whether it's free of contamination of transgenics. "

 

NDSU, from its initial varietal work, needs to take very strict

management procedures and do regular testing to maintain purity,

Sinner suggests.

 

" All the money that is spent to send those increases to Chile are

all for naught if it's contaminated, " Sinner says.

 

Sinner says he would be disturbed if NDSU planned to continue to

market contaminated seed as certified or registered. " That, to me,

goes against the principles of certified and registered seed. You've

lost your purity, " Sinner says.

 

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