APPENDIX 15
Memorandum submitted by Monsanto PLC (R
20)
Thank you for your letter of 2 August 1999 alerting
us to the above inquiry by the Agriculture Committee. We note
that the Committee will be examining "the means of segregation
of GM crops on farms, in storage and in transit, the difficulties
involved in ensuring such segregation and the implications of
these issues for the consumer in terms of labelling and traceability."
We also assume that the Committee will examine the existing systems
of identity preservation for fulfilling customer demand.
Many of these issues will be addressed by those
who are directly involved in the food production chain, such as
the farmers, grain traders, shippers, processors and the food
industry. Segregation of commodity crops would require large-scale
duplication of systems for growing, harvesting, storage, transporting
and processing of commodity crops and with limited guarantees
as regards the nature of the end product. On the other hand, "identity
preservation" (IP) is a known and tried system developed
over the past 30 years and operates on a contractual basis with
agreed specifications amongst the concerned operators in the specific
IP supply chain.
Monsanto's involvement in crop production is
limited to the first step of both agricultural supply chains as
a supplier of seeds to the farmer. The seeds may be conventional
or genetically modified and are clearly identified as such.
13 October 1999
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