Regulation, Procedures, and Rules for Triffid

[parsley]

Worldwide:

http://www.google.ca/#hl=en&biw=1138&bih=578&q=world organic certification&aq=f&aqi=g-v1&aql=&oq=world organic certification&gs_rfai=&fp=abf023fa88c5b3eb

Canadian:

http://www.google.ca/#hl=en&source=hp&biw=1155&bih=578&q=organic certification&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=ab f023fa88c5b3eb

USA:

http://www.google.ca/#hl=en&biw=1138&bih=578&q= USA organic certification&aq=&aqi=g-sx1g1g-sx6g-msx1&aql=&oq= USA organic certification&gs_rfai=&fp=abf023fa88c5b3eb

You can googlle any country you want.

This is just a few. Pars

[oneoff]

Golden flax; and in particular samples of roasted golden flax. Setting: Minot ND; just short of one year ago at the yearly Farm Show that is soon coming up again; indoor booth; jar of roasted golden flax; samples for public; direct from one of ND registered seed growers; "manned" by equivalent of a Flax Council type organization promoting flax;
Why were there brown (or red to me) flax seeds sprinkled throughout that jar? They stick out like sore thumbs . Some would like to think it was Triffid-free; but that is too much of a leap of faith for me. We can't apparently keep golden flax 100% golden; and there's no test for sure to prove it was 100% pure. Then what makes anyone know for sure it didn't have at least a single seed that would have just as great a chance of maintaining its Triffid presence at the same level in the next generation?
The answer of course is that it was roasted; and it tasted just fine too?
Still like the part of the joke about the pregnant daughter; "It was not so much you'd notice; but it bothered me"

[parsley]

I agree checking that eventually Triffid will have polluted and contaminated all flax throughout the world and organics will end up with another canola status...organics no longer able to offer it as GM free, good markets lost and buyers switching to alternate choices, as they did with olive oil. Non-Canadian.

I think you will find farms with Triffid free flax checking, but it turn south eventually.

At this point in time, yellow flax is still the best bet for a Triffid free flax product. Most organic growers test flax in the USA I'll guess.

Do Triffid seed growers comprehend the consequences of their actions or care that many Canadian flax growers as well as organic growers have and will continue to lose good flax sales?

I think not. Pars

[parsley]

oneoff growing food is a very important responsibility, imho.

Some seed growers are very careful, as are some producers. If you have ever sold grain, aka food, to a celiac, one realizes how much they suffer, and how important it is to clean grain properly so that no dockage will be ground in which will result in them ill for days.

It's an example of an obscure market.

Some producers could care less about what fellow producers grow.

But then, maybe growing crops is becoming disassociated from the idea of it being food, is it?

[wd9]

Sorry pars, what i want to know is what is the spec for triffid in organic flax be it ppt or ppb or ppm or a few in a handful and dats close enough. 1000 different websites are hopeless to find this one particular spec.

I hope i'm not being difficult, just want to know the answer amongst the reams of sites with specs for everything but triffid and flax. If it is zero there may not be any "organic" flax.

[ward.toma]

The acceptable level of any non-approved transgenic event in the EU is zero. Triffid is not approved in the EU and thus subject to the zero standard.

The acceptable level of transgenic events in any certified organic product is
zero. This was determined by the organic industry.

[ward.toma]

Standards governing organic production can be found at

www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/cgsb/on_the_net/organic/index-e.html

[charliep]

Likely a dumb question but would we be having the same discussion
about triffid flaxseed and Europe if the herbicide tolerance had been
the result of mutagenesis (eg. the equivalent of a clearfield variety).
Are all forms of biotechnology/alternative plant breeding methods
subject to the same regulatory review process as genetically
engineered/transgenic events in Europe? Do they have the equivalent
of PNT? Haven't read the Europe Food Safety Agency website for a
while but it would seem that all biotech crops would be subject to
review - not sure if the zero tolerance policy applies to non GE
processes.

I ask the question because from my understanding (may be foggy) is
that all plants with some form of change in genetic market/change in
function are subject to regulation, procedures and rules around plants
with novel traits (i.e. CFIA, Health Canada, Environment Canada).

[charliep]

The last paragraph refers to our processes in Canada with regards to new biotech crops or crops where there has been a significant change to function.

[oneoff]

Until we can bring ourselves say zero means zero; then it is obvious why people won't agree with basically anything. They have their own interests to protect; and continue to lie to themselves about near perfectness that can never be achieved again.