December 01, 2003

 

 

Agriculture Canada Invested $2.5 Million in GM Wheat
 

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.

 

The multinational agribusiness Monsanto has applied 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 a near 5% 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."

 

But John Cully, the department's director of intellectual property, said there's no conflict of interest, that it's common for governments to have research partnerships.

 

An agricultural economist at the University of Saskatchewan, Murray Fulton, 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."

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