Monsanto Discovers Wild Gene Fragments in Roundup Ready Soya

The Agribusiness Examiner # 77 6jun00
 Monitoring Corporate Agribusiness From a Public Interest Perspective
A.V. Krebs Editor\Publisher

"This shows exactly what we have been saying for years, that genetic modification is inherently unpredictable and will have all sorts of knock-on effects once released into
the environment," Andy Tait, a GM campaigner for Greenpeace UK, recently declared in reacting to the news that Monsanto had revealed that its most widely used "genetically modified" product --- Roundup Ready soybeans --- contains unexpected gene fragments.

As James Meikle reported in The Guardian, the Monsanto news raises "fresh doubts that the technology is properly understood."

The two extra gene fragments were found in modified soya beans that have been grown commercially in the U.S. for four years and used as a key ingredient in processed foods sold in Britain for a similar period. Monsanto had alerted UK's Department of the Environment to the results of new studies on its Roundup Ready soybeans on May 19, two days after ministers revealed that thousands of acres of oilseed rape had been grown unwittingly from conventional seed contaminated by GM material.

Monsanto said the new studies used more advanced techniques to provide "updated molecular characterization" of its beans which contain an inserted gene to ensure they are not destroyed by weedkiller. The tests found that two "inactive" pieces of genetic material were inserted at the same time as the whole gene. Dan Verakis, a spokesman for the company, said: "All this means is we are able to see genes in soya more clearly now. It is like putting a telescope in orbit allows astronomers to see stars better."

Monsanto, which is now a subsidiary of Pharmacia, and the British government, which approved the soya's use in food and animal feed on behalf of the EU insist that the beans are no more risky to human health than conventional types.

However, Meikle reports, "the revelation will cause further problems for ministers trying to prove they can manage and monitor the introduction of the technology."

Reacting to the new Monsanto study, Craig Winters, Executive Director, The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods, observes that "this `discovery' poses the question: `If they didn't know about these "unexpected gene fragments" what else don't they know?'

"Here we go again. Monsanto wants us to trust them when they say their genetically engineered crops are safe. Yet the report in the Guardian newspaper is further evidence that there are a lot unknown factors about genetically engineered foods." Winters adds.