Gene Seed Glitch: Monsanto's Biogene Slip-Up

Canada - In mid-April, the chemical and biotechnology giant Monsanto Corp. announced that it was recalling "small quantities" of genetically engineered canola seed containing an unapproved gene that had found its way into the product by mistake.

This is precisely the kind of error that genetic engineering's foes had been predicting for a decade, while its supporters vehemently denied that such a gene misplacement could occur.

Canola seed oil is used in low-fat foods, pharmaceuticals, nutritional supplements, confectionery products, margarine and shortening, personal care products, lubricants, soaps and detergents.

"We may never know how it happened," explained Limagrain's Gary Bauman. "The apparent contamination is something only they [Monsanto] are able to detect. We are not even allowed to try to investigate how to look at and discover this gene within our own varieties."

The recall reportedly was initiated by Monsanto Canada Ltd., and by Limagrain Canada Seeds, Inc. of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, which was selling the seed under license from Monsanto. The canola seed was "Roundup Ready" - engineered to withstand dousing with Monsanto's Roundup-brand glyphosate herbicide. Two Roundup-resistant canola genes, RT-73 and RT-200, had been approved for planting, but only RT-73 was approved for livestock and human consumption. The RT-200 gene somehow ended up in the seed stock that had to be recalled.

Since February, 1996, Monsanto has been marketing various Roundup-ready genetically engineered crops in an effort to boost Roundup's sales. The herbicide is Monsanto's best-selling and most profitable product, netting the company about $1.5 billion per year.

"In five to 10 years Roundup could be a $4 billion product," said Paul Raman, a chemical industry analyst for the investment banking firm S.G. Warburg & Co. That extra money would come chiefly from expanding sales of genetically engineered Roundup-resistant crops.

Ram's Horn, a Canadian newsletter reports that Monsanto informed the Canadian government that it was recalling 60,000 bag units of two types of canola seeds - enough to plant 600,000 to 750,000 acres of land - because one or both types contained the wrong gene. Some of the seed already had been planted before Monsanto discovered the mistake.

Danish researchers have shown that genetically manipulated genes (transgenes) in various crops can show up in nearby weeds; thus, genetic errors, of the kind made in Monsanto's canola seeds, may propagate themselves in the environment and permanently alter the natural world. So where are the environmental and consumer protections? Monsanto's quality-assurance programs already have failed, and Canada's biotechnology regulatory system is ineffective.

The US regulatory system is even more lax. Witness the revolving door: In the past, former Monsanto officials have become US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials assigned to approve Monsanto products - in some cases, the very products they worked on while at Monsanto.

The Washington Post reported in April that Marcia Hale, President Clinton's assistant for intergovernmental relations, would be taking a "sweet" job with Monsanto to coordinate public affairs and corporate strategy in the United Kingdom and Ireland, before returning to the US to work out of Monsanto's Washington, DC, office. And the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported in May that Virginia Weldon was a "top candidate" to head the FDA. Weldon is Monsanto's vice president.

With this kind of access, Monsanto stands at the head of an emerging global agro-industrial complex. "From the big picture standpoint," investment banker Sano Shimoda told Biotechnology Newswatch, "Monsanto has the ability to be the dominant biotech-based ag-food company in the world."

- Peter Montague

Excerpted from Rachel's Environment & Health Weekly, Environmental Research Foundation, PO Box 5036, Annapolis, MD 21403, fax: (410) 263-8944, erf@rachel.clark.net.