> The Heartland Wrestles With Biotechnology
> >
> > By Justin Gillis
> > Washington Post Staff Writer
> > Tuesday, April 22, 2003; Page A01
> >
> > MANNING, N.D. -- In a bar in this hamlet on the great American prairie,
> > some wheat farmers gathered one night not long ago. They drove for miles
> > through blowing snow, and more than 50 of them packed the Little Knife
> > Saloon, doubling the regular population of Manning. They came to ask
> > questions about a new kind of wheat, and the more they heard from a
> > panel skeptical of the crop, the more their brows knitted in worry.
> >
> > The wheat was created in a St. Louis biology laboratory, through genetic
> > engineering. It is meant to benefit farmers, but a lot of people in the
> > room fretted that it would put them out of business.
> >
> > "Nobody has really found out if this stuff is safe," declared Steven
> > Pollestad, who drove 30 miles from his family farm near Halliday and
> > stood at the back, thumbs hitched in his jeans. "The foreign buyers have
> > flat out said they won't buy it. And I believe they won't."
> >
> > In the states that grow the fabled amber waves of grain that symbolize
> > America's heritage of plenty, the most plentiful commodity these days is
> > trouble.
> >
> > For the first time in its decade-long push to win acceptance of
> > genetically altered crops, Monsanto Co. of St. Louis faces significant
> > opposition from farmers. Across the northern Great Plains and
> > neighboring Canada, skepticism toward a forthcoming Monsanto product,
> > called Roundup Ready wheat, has solidified into a political movement.
> > Some farmers are so worried they want their state governments to wrest
> > authority from federal regulators and adopt formal moratoriums on the
> > crop.
> >
> > The opposition, based largely on fear that foreign buyers will reject
> > gene-altered wheat, potentially costing American and Canadian farmers
> > vital markets, has only a few symbolic victories and several substantive
> > defeats to show in statehouses and provincial legislatures so far. The
> > critical decisions on whether to approve it still rest with regulators
> > in Washington and Ottawa. But already, candidates have won elections by
> > emphasizing their opposition to biotech wheat. And, facing a revolt not
> > only from farmers but from a wary American food industry, Monsanto has
> > been forced into a tactical retreat, stretching its timetable and
> > issuing a long list of promises about how it would commercialize the
> > product.
> >
> > "We're pursuing a very diligent path of dialogue," said Michael Doane,
> > Monsanto's director of industry affairs. "Over time, it has affected our
> > strategic approach."
> >
> > By no means does the opposition movement command unanimous allegiance in
> > farm country -- the issue has split farmers, farm organizations and
> > legislatures in at least four states and two Canadian provinces, with
> > the pro-biotech side plausibly claiming majority support among farmers
> > in most of those places.
> >
> > But the strength of the opposition has provoked a rollicking debate.
> > Roundup Ready wheat is emerging as a key test of whether the
> > biotechnology industry can take charge of the destiny of a major crop
> > used primarily as food, something it has yet to accomplish despite
> > successes in other crops.
> >
> > And the fight is becoming a prime symbol in another way, too. As genetic
> > science creates opportunities to manipulate the plants and animals
> > people eat, associated battles are migrating out of Washington. In the
> > next few years, state and even local governments will confront new kinds
> > of crops, as well as gene-altered animals and even a genetically
> > engineered salmon. Some of these products require state permits before
> > they can be commercialized, and many state and local governments will
> > hear demands to keep them out. The new biology, in other words, is
> > coming soon to state legislatures and county commissions across the
> > land.
> >
> > The change is already evident in North Dakota and neighboring states,
> > where legislators and some ordinary citizens now speak knowledgeably
> > about such matters as genetic drift and pollen flow. The movement has
> > fed on the deep suspicion of corporate ethics sparked by recent
> > scandals. Pollestad, that Halliday farmer, captured the mood in a letter
> > to the editor of the Grand Forks Herald. He noted that Monsanto was
> > continuing to press for quick federal approval of its wheat despite its
> > go-slow promises, and he called on North Dakota lawmakers to give
> > citizens a voice in the decision.
> >
> > "Or, we could let Monsanto decide," he wrote. "And maybe we also could
> > get Enron to run our utilities and Arthur Andersen to keep the books."
> >
> > Recouping an Investment
> > The crop technology that many companies, led by Monsanto, are pushing to
> > develop these days is an outgrowth of the vast genetic knowledge pouring
> > from the world's research laboratories. Scientists are becoming
> > increasingly adept at manipulating plants and animals in a way nature
> > does not, moving genes across species to confer new traits.
> >
> > Most research suggests such organisms are safe to eat, but a host of
> > theoretical questions remain about the environmental risks, such as the
> > possibility of creating new types of weeds or pests. That concern, plus
> > lingering uncertainty about health effects, has led to a broad
> > opposition movement, particularly in Europe and Japan.
> >
> > In the long run, the technology offers potential benefits consumers may
> > want, such as foods to cut the risk of heart disease or cancer. But the
> > crops that have come to market first are primarily designed to benefit
> > farmers by giving them greater control over weeds and insects.
> >
> > Monsanto has been in the vanguard, developing varieties of corn,
> > soybeans and cotton that resist worms and other insects. The company's
> > biggest success, though, has been with crops designed to exploit another
> > of its products, an herbicide called Roundup. This popular chemical
> > kills weeds efficiently, does no harm to people or animals and readily
> > breaks down in the environment.
> >
> > But Roundup kills conventional crops as well as weeds, so farmers mostly
> > used it to prepare their fields for planting. Monsanto scientists set
> > out in the 1980s, using genetic engineering, to develop crops resistant
> > to Roundup. "Roundup Ready" crops have proven wildly popular, saving
> > farmers labor. Monsanto competitors brought similar products to market.
> >
> > Not long after the crops were commercialized in the United States, in
> > the late 1990s, a European backlash began, featuring "Frankenfood"
> > headlines and warnings about manipulating nature. American farmers lost
> > corn sales to Europe, but growing demand in other markets took up the
> > slack. Neither corn nor soybeans is primarily a human food crop -- corn
> > is largely fed to farm animals, and after the oil is squeezed out, so is
> > most soybean meal. Cotton, of course, is used to make cloth.
> >
> > Despite these successes, Monsanto has yet to recoup its huge investment
> > in biotechnology, so the company needs new products. It is trying to
> > conquer the fundamental cereal of Western diets -- wheat.
> >
> > On past experience, the company counted on ready farmer acceptance. But
> > wheat farmers are highly dependent on foreign markets, particularly
> > Japan, and follow them assiduously. And wheat, as it happens, is grown
> > in a part of North America with a long tradition of political activism
> > among farmers, who battled banks and grain monopolies early in the 20th
> > century, a populist tradition that persists.
> >
> > Moreover, the people who run Monsanto had never met Tom and Gail Wiley.
> >
> > Money-Minded Opposition
> > The Wileys are wheat, soybean and cattle farmers who live on a windswept
> > farmstead at the end of a long gravel road in southeastern North Dakota.
> > They met in Berkeley, Calif., many years ago, and Tom Wiley confesses to
> > some counterculture dabbling in his youth.
> >
> > But the Wileys are conventional, not organic, farmers, and have been
> > more or less comfortable using pesticides and other aspects of modern
> > farm technology since they began working Tom Wiley's family homestead in
> > the 1970s.
> >
> > In the late 1990s, events unrelated to the biotechnology industry
> > politicized the Wileys. The federal government promulgated a
> > crop-insurance program and then changed the payout rules after farmers
> > had already bought their policies, a bait-and-switch that infuriated the
> > Wileys. They led a farmer coalition that sued the government, won, and
> > eventually got an act of Congress passed to correct the problem.
> >
> > As that battle was winding down, the Wileys began hearing about Roundup
> > Ready wheat. They'd already had one bad experience with biotech crops --
> > some high-grade soybeans they grew to make tofu somehow got adulterated
> > with a small amount of Roundup Ready soybeans, probably from a
> > neighbor's field, and buyers overseas balked.
> >
> > What would happen, the Wileys wondered, if Monsanto commercialized
> > Roundup Ready wheat and foreign buyers suddenly grew skittish about the
> > American crop amid fears of adulteration? They talked to other farmers.
> > Even if falling prices led growers to abandon the Monsanto product, the
> > reputation and marketability of U.S. wheat might be permanently damaged,
> > the farmers reasoned.
> >
> > A political movement was born. At lightning speed, it won a huge victory
> > when the lower house of North Dakota's Legislative Assembly passed a
> > moratorium in 2001 on Roundup Ready wheat. Shocked, Monsanto and
> > pro-biotech farm groups descended with lobbyists, and the state Senate
> > turned the moratorium into a mere study. But when the company and farm
> > groups began surveying major buyers of wheat, they found strong
> > resistance to the biotech crop, especially overseas.
> >
> > Sitting in their farm kitchen not long ago, the Wileys recalled their
> > surprise as they built alliances with environmental outfits like
> > Greenpeace that have traditionally taken a dim view of conventional
> > farming. "I think all my life I've been an environmentalist," Gail Wiley
> > said, her voice dropping as she added, "even though you don't say that
> > too loudly around here."
> >
> > If environmental factors influenced the Wileys' thinking, other people
> > in North Dakota looked at the issue in strictly dollars-and-cents terms,
> > and came out equally opposed to Roundup Ready wheat on the grounds the
> > marketplace just was not ready for it.
> >
> > As the rebellion grew, Monsanto bowed to political reality, pledging a
> > slew of steps that the company contends will protect existing markets.
> > Meeting all the milestones will effectively delay Roundup Ready wheat to
> > 2005, if not later. Assuming Monsanto keeps its word, the farmers have
> > gained a two-year moratorium without having to pass one into law.
> >
> > Doane, the Monsanto industry-affairs officer, has plied North Dakota on
> > the company's behalf. At his suggestion, a group of skeptical farmers,
> > not including the Wileys, boarded a Monsanto plane in December and flew
> > to St. Louis to talk to company leaders. The discussion was mostly calm,
> > but Louis Kuster, a grower from Stanley, N.D., and a member of a state
> > commission that promotes wheat sales, said he took offense when a
> > company executive, Robb Fraley, seemed to imply that farmers opposing
> > Monsanto might be advancing the agenda of radical environmental groups.
> >
> > "At that point I countered, and I did raise my voice a little bit and I
> > was a little bit angry, and I looked right straight at him and he was
> > only about five feet away from me, and I said, 'You're not talking to
> > the Greens here today,' " Kuster recalled. " 'We're money people. We
> > need to make money, too.' "
> >
> > 'Who Can You Trust?'
> > Gripping the wheel of his pickup truck on a chilly North Dakota morning,
> > an affable man named Terry Wanzek pointed with pride to the several
> > thousand acres of fields that make up his family farm. Wanzek, squarely
> > in the pro-biotech camp, acknowledged that the market risks cited by
> > opponents are real. But as he showed off his farm's spotless
> > grain-handling system, he declared the problems manageable.
> >
> > Besides, Wanzek said, what kind of message would it send to a biotech
> > industry investing billions in new technology if the very customers the
> > companies are trying to benefit, farmers, respond by kicking them in the
> > teeth?
> >
> > People on Wanzek's side of the issue generally take the view that
> > Monsanto's go-slow promises can be believed, and they also take
> > seriously a decade of rulings from the Environmental Protection Agency,
> > the Food and Drug Administration, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture
> > declaring biotech crops safe.
> >
> > "If you can't trust EPA and you can't trust FDA and you can't trust
> > USDA," Wanzek said as his truck crunched its way down gravel roads, "who
> > can you trust?"
> >
> > This is Monsanto's position, too -- that federal regulators will make
> > the right decisions. But the company has been forced to acknowledge
> > that, whatever Washington and Ottawa decide, the risk of overseas
> > rejection is real. Monsanto has lately papered the Great Plains states
> > with brochures outlining how it will proceed.
> >
> > For starters, the company said it will wait until the United States,
> > Canada (the nation's largest competitor in selling wheat) and Japan (its
> > largest customer, most years) approve the crop. And the company said it
> > will help institute "appropriate grain handling protocols" to keep
> > biotech wheat separate from regular wheat. Monsanto acknowledges that
> > total separation of the crops in fields, combines and grain bins is
> > impossible but argues that adequate separation can be achieved.
> >
> > Doane, the industry-affairs director, said Monsanto will honor those
> > commitments. "We've put it in black and white," he said. But distrust of
> > Monsanto runs deep enough in the Great Plains that politicians who
> > support the company can pay a price.
> >
> > Wanzek isn't just any farmer -- he was, until recently, the Republican
> > chairman of the Senate agriculture committee in North Dakota's
> > citizen-legislature. His committee was largely responsible for killing
> > the biotech-wheat moratorium in the last legislative session. He was
> > defeated by a Democrat last November in a campaign in which his support
> > for biotech crops became a major issue. "The wheat deal, I think, did
> > cost me some votes," he said.
> >
> > Wanzek's opponent, April Fairfield, was one of at least three
> > legislative candidates to use opposition to Roundup Ready wheat as a
> > signature campaign issue. All won.
> >
> > Fairfield has failed so far to win a moratorium. Lawmakers also turned
> > down a related measure to shift legal liability to companies like
> > Monsanto if their crops taint nearby farms. Similar legislation has
> > stalled in Montana, South Dakota and other states where wheat revolts
> > are underway. Republicans, many of whom initially supported the North
> > Dakota moratorium, have closed ranks to defend the technology, largely
> > because of Monsanto's promises.
> >
> > Passions remain high. As Fairfield described her winning campaign and
> > her losing attempts at lawmaking, in an interview in the basement
> > cafeteria of the North Dakota Legislative Assembly in Bismarck, a fellow
> > named Lance Hagen, executive director of the North Dakota Grain Growers
> > Association, ambled by.
> >
> > "Biotech or bust, baby!" he declared. "That's our motto."
> >
> > Unlikely Allies
> > Past midnight on a summer's evening three years ago, Larry Bohlen walked
> > out of a Safeway supermarket in Silver Spring toting $66.32 worth of
> > taco shells and other corn products. By the time Bohlen, director of
> > health and environment programs at Friends of the Earth, and his allies
> > in the environmental movement were done having the corn products tested
> > for adulteration, they had forced American food and biotech companies
> > into a recall costing hundreds of millions of dollars.
> >
> > A biotech corn called StarLink, meant only for animal consumption, had
> > made its way into the human food supply through sloppy grain handling.
> > The incident foreshadowed another mishap last year, in which corn
> > genetically engineered to grow a pig vaccine nearly made its way into
> > food.
> >
> > The problems have made large American food companies exceedingly nervous
> > about biotechnology. More than half their products in the United States
> > contain biotech ingredients, particularly lecithin or protein made from
> > Roundup Ready soybeans, and they live in fear that some contamination
> > incident will provoke a U.S. consumer backlash.
> >
> > "Right now, public acceptance of biotechnology in America is relatively
> > high," Betsy D. Holden, co-chief executive of Kraft Foods Inc., said in
> > a recent speech in Arlington. "But how many more times can we test the
> > public's trust before we begin to lose it?"
> >
> > The food industry has been publicly skeptical of Roundup Ready wheat.
> > Behind closed doors, according to three people privy to the discussions,
> > the industry has been far blunter with Monsanto and its biotech allies.
> > "Don't want it. Don't need it," one person said the message has been.
> >
> > The food companies have been killing smaller biotech crops like potatoes
> > and sugar beets for several years. Knowledgeable people say the food
> > companies have essentially told Monsanto they will try to kill Roundup
> > Ready wheat if the company moves forward, asking suppliers to accept
> > only conventional wheat.
> >
> > At the same time, the food companies are under political pressure from
> > biotech supporters on Capitol Hill not to come out publicly against
> > gene-altered crops. That makes for a volatile situation where it is hard
> > to predict exactly what the food companies will do until the wheat is
> > approved.
> >
> > Out on the Great Plains, farmers skeptical of the crop are hoping the
> > food companies come down as allies, but they are not counting on it.
> > Their efforts stalled in state legislatures, the farmers recently
> > petitioned the Agriculture Department for a full environmental and
> > economic assessment of Roundup Ready wheat before the government grants
> > approval.
> >
> > Some farmers acknowledge that Monsanto will probably win approval
> > eventually but say they're looking for any stalling tactic they can
> > find.
> >
> > "I feel that we have accomplished something, in that it's slowing up the
> > process so that more thought can go into it," said Kuster, the farmer
> > from Stanley, N.D. "The slower it goes, the more chance it has of
> > getting done right."