OK Of Engineered Canola Sought April 16, 2002 WASHINGTON (AP) A leading biotechnology company is seeking federal approval for a genetically engineered variety of canola just in case trace amounts of the cooking-oil crop are detected in U.S. seed supplies. The gene-altered seed variety has never been marketed commercially but tiny amounts were detected last year in Canadian seed, Monsanto Co. spokesman Loren Wassell said Monday. Getting approval for the crop from the Agriculture Department and Food and Drug Administration would ensure that discovery of the seed in U.S. supplies would not disrupt trade, Wassell said. The biotech proteins in the canola were approved for food use by the Environmental Protection Agency in the 1990s, he said. Canola is a popular source of cooking oil because it is relatively low in saturated fat. The gene-altered variety, GT200, was approved for production in Canada but not in the United States because Monsanto decided to market a slightly different variety, known as RT73, Wassell said. Both varieties are engineered to be immune to Monsanto's powerful Roundup weedkiller. No GT200 has been detected in tests of U.S. seed, Wassell said. The Food and Drug Administration must determine whether the biotech crop is substantially the same as canola that is bred by conventional means. The Agriculture Department decides whether it poses a risk of environmental harm and proposed in February to grant the approval. The department solicited public comment on Monsanto's request in March but has not made a decision, said spokeswoman Alisa Harrison. In a letter to the department last fall, Monsanto said GT200 "has the potential to be present in low, adventitious levels in commercial canola varieties." FDA officials did not return telephone calls. The biotechnology industry was embarrassed in 2000 when a variety of corn not approved for food use was found in taco shells and other foods. That corn variety, known as StarLink, was removed from the market, but the discovery led to national recalls of corn products and some temporary shutdowns of processing plants. Unlike the biotech canola, StarLink was approved only for animal feed and industrial use because of unresolved questions about its potential to cause allergic reactions. As a result of such incidents, the biotechnology industry is asking the Bush administration to set a standard that would allow for the accidental presence of unapproved ingredients in food. Anti-biotech activists would be certain to oppose such a move, however. Joseph Mendelson, legal director of the anti-biotech group Center for Food Safety, said Monsanto's admission that trace amounts of GT200 canola might be in other seed amounted to "genetic pollution of our food supply." Pesticide Action Network NA Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.