Source: The StarPhoenix via Checkbiotech.org

Saskatchewan canola producers --who have half the seeded acres of canola in Canada -- won't have to worry about the threatened loss of roughly one-third of its export market.

China set an April 20 deadline for makers of genetically modified crops to submit safety certificates required under new regulations. The safety certificates would prove the products are safe for people, animals and the environment.

As of last week, it looked like Canadian canola producers would be locked out of China since developers of genetically modified canola, Bayer and Monsanto, had not yet received approvals from China.

But Barbara Isman, president of the Canola Council of Canada, said the organization has learned that the Chinese vice-minister of agriculture has signed off on the safety certificates for those companies.

"Essentially, they're giving GM crops the all-clear,'' Isman said in an interview Monday. "Apparently, the certificates are to be picked up Tuesday.''

Isman said China, as a member to the World Trade Organization, is required to test all genetically modified crops for their safe use in food, feed and the environment. The crops are subjected to tests to determine their toxicity, "allergenicity" and environmental impact, she said.

While the testing process was begun a year ago, the complexity of some Canadian canola varieties, which are genetically modified to be resistant to both disease and herbicides, took longer than expected to test.

"It isn't because of a concern about the safety of GM crops,'' Isman said, adding that China currently grows four GM crops, including soybeans and canola.

When the export certificates are received, companies like Monsanto can then apply for import certificates to bring the GM crops, in raw or processed form, into China.

"Normally, this process could take six weeks or longer, but the Chinese are expediting the process,'' Isman said. "We shouldn't see a significant delay, as a result.''

The issue came to light at the canola council's annual meeting in Mexico last month. Shi Yanquan, head of China's office of genetically modified organisms, said that without safety certificates no genetically modified food exports would be allowed in China after April 21.

China accounts for about 30 per cent of Canada's total canola export market.

A lengthy export disruption would have meant reduced prices for canola, Isman said. "Canola has been and is expected to be again for this year, one of the big money earners on the farm."

Canada annually sends about one million tonnes of canola, in raw or processed form, to China. At $400 per tonne, the value of Canadian exports of canola to China is about $400 million.

With 5.6 million seeded acres of canola, the province accounts for half of the seeded acres of canola in Canada, but less than half of production due to somewhat lower yields in Saskatchewan.

© Copyright 2004 The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon)