No turning back on genetically modified foods once their spread around world
To the editor:
Ron Cannan’s MP’s Report is full of questionable logic. (Genetically Modified Food Debate Position Taken by Ottawa Defended, Nov. 19 Capital News.)
Clearly, our MP supports genetically modified food. His message is that this radical new technology is safe and beneficial for Canada.
Mr. Cannan says: “The Canadian regulatory system is one of the most comprehensive and respected science-based systems in the world.” That sounds good, but who’s science are we trusting?
Health Canada doesn’t do any independent safety testing, relying instead on ‘science’ conducted by the companies that produce and profit from the product. Isn’t that letting the fox guard the henhouse?
The corporation Monsanto is the biotech leader in Canada. Mr. Cannan points out that they now own 90 per cent of canola seeds. What is beneficial about free seeds being taken out of farmer’s hands and replaced with patented seeds owned by a U.S. company?
Natural (non GMO) growers are sued for using the patented technology when the wind blows gene-altered seeds onto their fields. Who benefits?
Ron Cannan is quoted as saying “we cannot shut down an entire agricultural sector simply because other countries fear genetically modified food.”
I question why Canada is becoming a world leader in producing food crops that other countries fear and label as gene-altered?
No one is afraid of natural crops.
When GM flax contaminated flax exports in 2009, the contamination reached 36 countries, none of which had approved the flax for human consumption. It’s actually a majority of countries that has taken a more cautious approach to GMOs.
For clarity, I contacted the David Suzuki Foundation for permission to use his quotes. Here is what Canada’s revered geneticist and environmental expert has to say:
“I am most definitely not in favor of release of GMOs in the food stream and given that it’s too late, I favour complete labeling of GMO products. What bothers me is we have governments that are supposed to be looking out for our health, for the safety of our environment, and they’re acting like cheerleaders for this technology, which…is in its infancy and we have no idea what the technology is going to do.” Anyone that says, ‘Oh, we know that this is perfectly safe,’ I say is either unbelievably stupid, or deliberately lying. The reality is, we don’t know. The experiments simply haven’t been done, and now we have become the guinea pigs.”—Dr. David Suzuki, geneticist.
Canada cannot afford to be on the wrong on this issue as the changes to the seeds are permanent. This is our national food supply, and also a source of income as an exporting nation.
Bill C-474 will be voted on in Parliament in early 2011. If this bill is not supported, then Canada could become the first country in the world to irreversibly alter wheat and alfalfa by transgenic manipulation. What a horrible Canadian legacy that would be.
Heidi Osterman,
Kelowna
