The United State's Monsanto company says it does not sell genetically modified seeds on the Ukrainian market: only organic.
Monsanto ,the world`s largest company producing genetically modified food, and a major herbicides and seeds supplier on the Ukrainian market, said on Oct. 21 that its decision to halt research on genetically altered cereals for the European market would not affect its business in Ukraine. It also said Ukraine is free of its genetically modified products.
The Guardian reported on Oct. 18 that Monsanto was closing its cereals business headquarters in Britain, which employs 125 people, and reorganizing its UK operations for the production of a herbicide-resistant variety of rape, a plant whose seeds yield cooking oil. It said that rape breeding stations in France, Germany and the Czech Republic would also be affected.
“Our lack of success in hybrids means this is no longer a good strategic fit for Monsanto,” said Jeff Cox, Monsanto’s general manager.
Critics of genetic modification, both in Ukraine and throughout the world, say that unlike traditional hybridization, which involves selectively crossing different varieties of one plant to improve some of its characteristics, bioengineering companies such as Monsanto mutate a particular plant’s genetic structure to achieve a desired commercial effect.
They say that the process is highly likely to lead to untold ecological damages and negative consequences for human health.
In Monsanto’s case, the company genetically alters plants to make them compatible with its powerful herbicide, Roundup, making them “Roundup Ready.” Farmers can use Roundup on conventional crop fields before sowing and after harvesting crops, but only Monsanto’s genetically modified plants are capable of withstanding the herbicide’s direct application.
Mykola Boyko, registration manager for Monsanto’s Ukrainian operations, denied that the company supplies anything but organic corn, sunflower and rape to farmers, since Ukrainian legislation explicitly prohibits the production of genetically modified crops for commercial purposes. He also told the Post that the company’s move to halt its genetically modified cereal operations in Europe would not impact business in Ukraine, since the company is not involved in cereal production here.
“In Ukraine, the company only supplies conventional seeds, since legislation bans the production of genetically modified seeds,” Boyko said. “The company never goes against legislation.”
Boyko said that Ukrainian farmers have been using Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide for years as prescribed for conventional crop fields.
But critics of genetically modified products in Ukraine say there is no guarantee that a company such as Monsanto has not continued to clandestinely distribute genetically modified crops in Ukraine for commercial purposes. Critics have cited examples, such as the secret genetically modified wheat fields in Canada that were exposed this year in the face of widespread public protest against the crop. The public outrage was fueled by a broken pledge from Monsanto to halt genetically modified wheat production in Canada.
Serhy Feofilov, an agricultural analyst with Ukragroconsult, said that Ukrainian legislation lacks provisions that would allow commercial production of genetically modified crops, though it is not inconceivable that farmers grow them anyway.
“Genetically modified seeds enter the market through the shadow economy all the same,” Feofilov said.
Industry insiders claim that Ukrainian farmers and small-plot owners desperate to defeat the Colorado potato beetle, known as the scourge of the country’s potato industry, can buy Monsanto’s NewLeaf seed potatoes, developed by the company to combat the beetle, on the black market.
Market analysts say the beetle could destroy up to 40 percent of the nation’s annual potato crop.
Following a botched 1998 attempt to import from Canada and grow the genetically modified potato in Ukraine, Monsanto was forced to destroy 1,300 tons of the crop in 1999, after Ukraine’s government refused to register the potato as a recognized variety.
A Greenpeace report from 1999 said that Ukraine’s Health Ministry had refused to approve the potato for human consumption.
“Monsanto carried out field trials of genetically engineered NewLeaf potatoes in Ukraine, without either prior environmental assessments of the potential adverse impacts of these transgenic crops [as required by Ukrainian law], or the consent of either the environment or health ministries,” the report said.
“It is clear that Monsanto was able to benefit from the lack of state control on genetic engineering.”
Greenpeace said that the potatoes were designed to provide a built-in pesticide against the Colorado potato beetle, but that the toxin in transgenic plants, unlike the toxin in its natural form, has been shown to harm species higher up the food chain. The toxin runs the risk of accumulation.
The report said that no comprehensive rules were in place to regulate the import into Ukraine of the genetically modified potato seeds, and no safeguards were implemented to prevent farm workers from collecting them for use as food or as seeds for private plots.
Mykola Pidvezyany, head analyst with Proagro, an agricultural consulting firm, said that Ukraine’s legislation permits only the experimental growth of genetically modified crops, but prohibited their commercial exploitation. The Ukrainian food market lacks strong control mechanisms to discover genetically modified components in consumer foods, he added.
“Ukraine carried out experimental crop work, so it’s possible that this genetically modified production reached villagers for further production,” he said.
A highly reliable source told the Post on condition of anonymity that in 2000 at least one farmer in Sumy oblast purchased Monsanto’s NewLeaf potato seeds and planted them separately from his conventional patch.
The source said that the farmer distributed the potato seeds among his neighbors, and the source himself successfully planted the potatoes at his dacha the following year.
Pidvezyany said that Ukraine’s legislation banning genetically modified production remains limited to a government regulation from 1998.
A new bill on bio-safety is currently being discussed in parliament.
Meanwhile, he said research on genetically modified products is being carried out around the world, placing Ukraine in the middle of a global debate over their safety.
“The world is divided in two on this issue: Europe, which is categorically against genetically modified foods, and countries like the U.S. and Brazil. That’s why Ukraine is caught between two fires,” he said.
“If Ukraine wants to work with the U.S., the U.S. will push to open the [Ukrainian] market [for its genetically modified products].”
Pidvezyany said the likelihood was high that Ukrainians currently consume products such as sausages, potato chips, chocolate, margarine, starch, corn and soybean oils that contain genetically modified components.
Industry insiders say that Monsanto, once considered a model United States corporation, has turned into a business school case study of how not to run a company.
The company literally bet its entire farm on genetically modified agricultural technologies.
Market analysts say that as a result, Monsanto has run up losses of up to $200 million per quarter.
Monsanto to continue business in Ukraine
“Genetically modified seeds enter the market through the shadow economy all the same.”
– Serhy Feofilov,
agricultural analyst with Ukragroconsult.
By STEPHAN LADANAJ
Post Staff Writer
Monsanto, the world’s largest company producing genetically modified foods, and a major herbicides and seeds supplier on the Ukrainian market, said on Oct. 21 that its decision to halt research on genetically altered cereals for the European market would not affect its business in Ukraine. It also said Ukraine is free of its genetically modified products.
The Guardian reported on Oct. 18 that Monsanto was closing its cereals business headquarters in Britain, which employs 125 people, and reorganizing its UK operations for the production of a herbicide-resistant variety of rape, a plant whose seeds yield cooking oil. It said that rape breeding stations in France, Germany and the Czech Republic would also be affected.
“Our lack of success in hybrids means this is no longer a good strategic fit for Monsanto,” said Jeff Cox, Monsanto’s general manager.
Critics of genetic modification, both in Ukraine and throughout the world, say that unlike traditional hybridization, which involves selectively crossing different varieties of one plant to improve some of its characteristics, bioengineering companies such as Monsanto mutate a particular plant’s genetic structure to achieve a desired commercial effect.
They say that the process is highly likely to lead to untold ecological damages and negative consequences for human health.
In Monsanto’s case, the company genetically alters plants to make them compatible with its powerful herbicide, Roundup, making them “Roundup Ready.” Farmers can use Roundup on conventional crop fields before sowing and after harvesting crops, but only Monsanto’s genetically modified plants are capable of withstanding the herbicide’s direct application.
Mykola Boyko, registration manager for Monsanto’s Ukrainian operations, denied that the company supplies anything but organic corn, sunflower and rape to farmers, since Ukrainian legislation explicitly prohibits the production of genetically modified crops for commercial purposes. He also told the Post that the company’s move to halt its genetically modified cereal operations in Europe would not impact business in Ukraine, since the company is not involved in cereal production here.
“In Ukraine, the company only supplies conventional seeds, since legislation bans the production of genetically modified seeds,” Boyko said. “The company never goes against legislation.”
Boyko said that Ukrainian farmers have been using Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide for years as prescribed for conventional crop fields.
But critics of genetically modified products in Ukraine say there is no guarantee that a company such as Monsanto has not continued to clandestinely distribute genetically modified crops in Ukraine for commercial purposes. Critics have cited examples, such as the secret genetically modified wheat fields in Canada that were exposed this year in the face of widespread public protest against the crop. The public outrage was fueled by a broken pledge from Monsanto to halt genetically modified wheat production in Canada.
Serhy Feofilov, an agricultural analyst with Ukragroconsult, said that Ukrainian legislation lacks provisions that would allow commercial production of genetically modified crops, though it is not inconceivable that farmers grow them anyway.
“Genetically modified seeds enter the market through the shadow economy all the same,” Feofilov said.
Industry insiders claim that Ukrainian farmers and small-plot owners desperate to defeat the Colorado potato beetle, known as the scourge of the country’s potato industry, can buy Monsanto’s NewLeaf seed potatoes, developed by the company to combat the beetle, on the black market.
Market analysts say the beetle could destroy up to 40 percent of the nation’s annual potato crop.
Following a botched 1998 attempt to import from Canada and grow the genetically modified potato in Ukraine, Monsanto was forced to destroy 1,300 tons of the crop in 1999, after Ukraine’s government refused to register the potato as a recognized variety.
A Greenpeace report from 1999 said that Ukraine’s Health Ministry had refused to approve the potato for human consumption.
“Monsanto carried out field trials of genetically engineered NewLeaf potatoes in Ukraine, without either prior environmental assessments of the potential adverse impacts of these transgenic crops [as required by Ukrainian law], or the consent of either the environment or health ministries,” the report said.
“It is clear that Monsanto was able to benefit from the lack of state control on genetic engineering.”
Greenpeace said that the potatoes were designed to provide a built-in pesticide against the Colorado potato beetle, but that the toxin in transgenic plants, unlike the toxin in its natural form, has been shown to harm species higher up the food chain. The toxin runs the risk of accumulation.
The report said that no comprehensive rules were in place to regulate the import into Ukraine of the genetically modified potato seeds, and no safeguards were implemented to prevent farm workers from collecting them for use as food or as seeds for private plots.
Mykola Pidvezyany, head analyst with Proagro, an agricultural consulting firm, said that Ukraine’s legislation permits only the experimental growth of genetically modified crops, but prohibited their commercial exploitation. The Ukrainian food market lacks strong control mechanisms to discover genetically modified components in consumer foods, he added.
“Ukraine carried out experimental crop work, so it’s possible that this genetically modified production reached villagers for further production,” he said.
A highly reliable source told the Post on condition of anonymity that in 2000 at least one farmer in Sumy oblast purchased Monsanto’s NewLeaf potato seeds and planted them separately from his conventional patch.
The source said that the farmer distributed the potato seeds among his neighbors, and the source himself successfully planted the potatoes at his dacha the following year.
Pidvezyany said that Ukraine’s legislation banning genetically modified production remains limited to a government regulation from 1998.
A new bill on bio-safety is currently being discussed in parliament.
Meanwhile, he said research on genetically modified products is being carried out around the world, placing Ukraine in the middle of a global debate over their safety.
“The world is divided in two on this issue: Europe, which is categorically against genetically modified foods, and countries like the U.S. and Brazil. That’s why Ukraine is caught between two fires,” he said.
“If Ukraine wants to work with the U.S., the U.S. will push to open the [Ukrainian] market [for its genetically modified products].”
Pidvezyany said the likelihood was high that Ukrainians currently consume products such as sausages, potato chips, chocolate, margarine, starch, corn and soybean oils that contain genetically modified components.
Industry insiders say that Monsanto, once considered a model United States corporation, has turned into a business school case study of how not to run a company.
The company literally bet its entire farm on genetically modified agricultural technologies.
Market analysts say that as a result, Monsanto has run up losses of up to $200 million per quarter.
