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Top UK miller to cut North America wheat if GM okayed
(Wednesday, June 4, 2003 -- CropChoice news) -- Ben Harding, Reuters, 06/03/03:
LONDON - Britain's biggest flour miller Rank
Hovis said on Tuesday it would stop using North American wheat if
the United States or Canada began commercial planting of GM
varieties as it might contaminate non-GM grain during shipment.
Hovis' Wheat Director Peter Jones said if large-scale opposition
to genetically modified (GM) food continued among Britons, Hovis
would have to import high-protein grain from countries such as
Germany or Australia to avoid gene altered material creeping into
its bread.
"If in a few years time the British public still felt the same
way about GM when this wheat might be grown commercially, we
wouldn't be able to use it," Jones told Reuters.
Late last week, U.S. industry sources said tests revealed traces
of GM material were finding its way into U.S. wheat supplies.
"We say that the U.S. and Canada should beware. They export a
lot of grain," Jones said.
The United States and Canadian wheat accounts for about 40
percent of world exports of 98.3 million tonnes.
GM wheat has yet to hit the market, but in January U.S. biotech
giant Monsanto (NYSE:MON - News) announced plans to release a
genetically modified spring wheat variety, which could
potentially cripple North American wheat exports.
Many countries that buy grain from the United States refuse to
purchase GM varieties.
Last week, the Canadian Wheat Board pleaded with Monsanto to drop its bid for regulatory approval
of the GM grain.
About 10 percent of the five million tonnes of grain Hovis bakes
every year comes from the United States and Canada and is used in
its higher-grade bread.
Jones said Hovis already finds the odd piece soybean or corn in
its North American wheat that was probably genetically modified,
but was sifted out during processing.
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