Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>]

Published on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 by Reuters
US Organic Food Industry Fears GMO Contamination
by Carey Gillam
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN1216250820080312

Widespread contamination of U.S. corn, soybeans and other crops by 
genetically engineered varieties is threatening the purity of organic and 
natural food products and driving purveyors of such specialty products to new 
efforts to protect their markets, industry leaders said this week.0312 04

A range of players, from dairy farmers to natural food retailers, are behind 
an effort to introduce testing requirements and standards for certification 
aimed at keeping contamination at bay. That goal is rapidly becoming harder, 
however, as planting of biotech corn, soybeans, and other crops expands 
across the United States.

“Now there is a real shortage of organic grain for animal husbandry and dairy 
operations,” said Organic Consumers Association national director Ronnie 
Cummins. “People are having to be real careful.”

Proponents of the plan are rolling it out this week at an industry meeting in 
Anaheim, California, seeking to get the entire organic and natural foods 
industry to agree on testing and standard certifications. Companies that get 
certified will be allowed to use a seal designating as much on their products.

“We think we can keep the contamination from getting worse by putting 
safeguards in place so people who want to choose to eat organic products free 
of genetic contamination can do so,” said Michael Funk, CEO of United Natural 
Foods, which is backing the initiative. “The longer we delay … the more 
challenging it is going to be.”

Biotech crops, primarily corn, soybeans, cotton and canola, have genes that 
have been manipulated to express specific traits, most commonly a resistance 
to herbicide, which helps farmers. Biotech developers such as Monsanto Co 
patent the crop technology and tightly control use of the seed.

But mixing of biotech crops and conventional crops can occur during many 
phases of harvest, storage and shipment of grain, and drifting pollen and 
other natural forces can also contaminate crops while they are still in the 
fields.

Indeed, contamination of conventional crops by biotech crops has been 
reported around the world. There were 39 cases of crop contamination in 23 
countries in 2007, and more than 200 in 57 countries over the last 10 years, 
according to biotech critic Greenpeace International.

Contamination of corn is the biggest concern for those trying to sell 
biotech-free food. Corn is not only used in human food but is also used to 
feed livestock, meaning organic beef and dairy farmers must ensure their 
animals are fed corn that is free of contamination.

That has become more difficult as biotech corn acres have expanded in the 
United States. In 2007, an estimated 73 percent of the 92.9 million acres of 
U.S. corn planted were biotech, according to the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture.

The USDA has a set of national standards for foods labeled “organic” as part 
of its marketing service, but the industry players seeking independent 
testing said the USDA has not gone far enough to require organic and natural 
foods are free from biotech contamination.

Organic dairy farmer Albert Straus, who started testing corn fed to his 
300-head dairy herd more than a year ago, and found about one-third had been 
contaminated, now tests every lot of grain he buys.

“I started to test our products to see if there was an issue or not. It 
turned out there was an issue,” said Straus. He is now adding a label to his 
dairy products to alert consumers to the extra level of caution. “There is so 
much contamination,” he said.