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U.S. losing EU honey market on GM cross-polination risks
By Daniel Davidson
DTN Agronomist
OMAHA (DTN)--In a previous column about cross-pollination of soybeans, I wrote because they "do not attract pollinators such as bees, (it) lessens the chance of getting cross pollination."
The day the article was posted on DTN, David Dechant from Colorado responded. He wrote in an e-mail, "soybeans do attract bees." He is correct in that response--they do attract bees. But not in large numbers naturally as more fragrant plants, so chances of cross pollination are smaller.
According to S.E. McGregor in his publication "Beekeeping in the United States," if colonies of bees are near open fields of oilseed crops, cross pollination is more likely. Beekeepers who put their hives near fields of soybeans could not only contaminate conventional soybeans with the Roundup Ready genes, they could also introduce genetically modified materials into the bees' honey production.
In self-pollinated crops, pollen is unlikely to escape from a field on its own. Soybeans are almost completely self pollinated, said C.E. Caviness with the Arkansas Agricultural Extension Service, who showed in 1970 that honey bees are responsible for the occasional cross pollination.
Certified Seed Regulations (7 CFR {201.67--201.78) recognizes the unlikelihood of cross pollination and are permitted to be grown zero distance from the nearest contaminating source.
Numerous reports are available that state soybeans can support a bee's honey production. Dechant said bees visit transgenic soybean and cotton flowers. He said a friend of his in the honey business said the U.S. lost its honey exports to the European Union because EU officials didn't want any honey derived from transgenic crops.
Ingrid Williams of IACR-Rothamsted, Plant and Invertebrate Ecology Division, Harpendent, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, said widespread use of genetically-modified herbicide tolerant (GMHT) crops such as soybeans will inevitably lead to genetically modified material showing up in pollen, honey and possibly other bee products.
How much genetically modified pollen will show up in bee products is not known, but studies suggest the honey bee flight ranges up to six miles, so there is an opportunity for honey to be contaminated with pollen as the honey bee forages for nectar.
There is a chance genetically modified materials can find their way into honey because pollen is found there. Bees forage for nectar and, as a result, pickup and transfer pollen in other flowers and move it back to the hive.
Williams said honey extracted centrifugally contains relatively little pollen, such that regulators concluded that ingestion of protein from the present of genetically modified pollen in honey is so small that no health concerns exist. Beekeepers who supplement that honey with extra pollen, however, could contain more GM material.
Eric Mussen of the University of California-Davis said if a honey producer intends to produce GMO-free honey, no GM organisms should be within flight range of the colonies that might contaminate the environment in such a way that honey bees might get into it.
Honey contaminated with genetically modified materials has never been a concern in the U.S., he said. In the European Union, though, where GMOs are not favored, this contamination can and has affected imports. But Mussen said the ban is slowly breaking down because some of the technologies the EU countries need are now available only as GMO products.
If honey producers are growing for the organic, natural or export market, they can locate their bees beyond the foraging range of potential contaminants.
Date: 3/22/04
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