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Even provincial government kept in dark on Canadian GM wheat site (July 27, 2001 -- CropChoice news) -- This is a Canadian Broadcasting Company transcript of a story about a secret transgenic wheat trial site that was kept secret from the Prince Edward Island provincial government
ALISON SMITH: A crop of wheat in Prince Edward Island is raising
some serious questions, like when does a company's right to
protect its interests end and the public's right to protect itself
begin? As Kelly Crowe reports, they're questions that started when
the provincial government asked a simple question of its own.
KELLY CROWE (Reporter): It was an experiment in genetically
modified wheat somewhere on Prince Edward Island last summer.
A location so secret, even provincial Agriculture Minister Mitch
Murphy was kept in the dark. MITCH
MURPHY (PEI Agriculture Minister): Absolutely think the province
has a right to know.
CROWE: But the province didn't know, even though it tried to find
out. A fact revealed in a series of government documents published
in an Island newspaper. It started with this letter last March. The
Canadian Food Inspection Agency told PEI that a company,
Novartis, wanted to test some GM wheat. We ask you to notify us
as soon as possible with any questions. The Minister sent back a
list of questions. The food inspection agency asked Novartis to
answer them. In response to the question, what are the exact
locations of the field trial sites, Novartis wrote that was strictly
confidential because the company, worried about vandalism,
wanted to ensure the safety of Novartis operators and personnel as
well as protect Novartis' intellectual property from industrial
espionage.
MURPHY: We didn't answers to what we thought were very
important questions.
CROWE: It's information island farmers like David Mall wanted to
know. Now he's wondering if one of the test sites was anywhere
near his fields.
DAVID MALL (PEI Farmer): I'd have some concerns about cross-
pollination or that the proper procedures or safety protocol was
followed.
CROWE: It's a concern that's been expressed across Canada, with
more than fifty field tests of GM wheat approved for this year alone.
The Canadian Wheat Board has tried and failed to find out the
locations. So have individual farmers. The Canadian Food
Inspection Agency says its hands are tied by privacy laws.
Spokesman Stephen Yarrow wasn't available for an on camera
interview. He says he's sympathetic to the reasons why people
want to know, but the law is the law. He said, "we're on the side of
the protection of proprietary information. That's how it looks
because that's how it is".
WALTER WALCHUK (Alberta Organic Growers): Well, I'm not sure
whose interests they're defending here.
CROWE: Walter Walchuk, of the Alberta Organic Growers, has
also tried and failed to find out where the test fields are. He says
it's time for a change in government policy.
WALCHUK: So I think it's a matter of public interest versus private
corporate interest, and I think the public interest is the one that
needs to be protected here.
CROWE: Back in PEI, Mitch Murphy says more openness will
help the companies too.
MURPHY: If the trials are conducted in an open and transparent
way, then the public will support the results.
CROWE: There was something else that PEI wanted to know,
what would Ottawa do if something went wrong with the tests. Who
would be liable? The Agriculture Minister says he didn't get an
answer to that question either.
Kelly Crowe, CBC News, Toronto. | |
