Posted on 5-6-2003

UK Miller To Cut US Wheat
By Ben Harding, Tuesday June 3, Reuters

LONDON, June 3 (Reuters) - Britain's biggest flour miller Rank Hovis
said on Tuesday it would stop using North American wheat if
the United States or Canada began commercial planting of GM varieties
as it might contaminate non-GM grain during shipment.

Hovis' Wheat Director Peter Jones said if large-scale opposition to
genetically modified (GM) food continued among Britons, Hovis would have
to import high-protein grain from countries such as Germany or Australia
to avoid gene altered material creeping into its bread. "If in a few
years time the British public still felt the same way about GM when this
wheat might be grown commercially, we wouldn't be able to use it,"
Jones told Reuters. Late last week, U.S. industry sources said tests
revealed traces of GM material were finding its way into U.S. wheat
supplies. "We say that the U.S. and Canada should beware. They export a
lot of grain," Jones said.

The United States and Canadian wheat accounts for about 40 percent
of world exports of 98.3 million tonnes. GM wheat has yet to hit the
market, but in January U.S. biotech giant Monsanto (NYSE:MON
- News) announced plans to release a
genetically modified spring wheat variety, which could
potentially cripple North American wheat exports. Many countries that buy
grain from the United States refuse to purchase GM varieties.
Last week, the Canadian Wheat Board pleaded with Monsanto
(Bombay:MNSN.BO - News) to drop its bid for regulatory approval of the GM
grain.

About 10 percent of the five million tonnes of grain Hovis bakes every
year comes from the United States and Canada and is used in its
higher-grade bread. Jones said Hovis already finds the odd piece soybean
or corn in its North American wheat that was probably genetically
modified, but was sifted out during processing.