Press release - June 26, 2007
This afternoon, Greenpeace activists protested outside a meeting of federal, provincial and territorial agriculture ministers in Whistler, B.C. demanding mandatory labelling of genetically engineered (GE) food.
"The ministers promised last year to hold talks on GE
labelling," said Josh Brandon, genetic engineering campaigner with
Greenpeace. "We are here to hold them to that promise so that
Canadians can know what they are eating just as citizens do in 40
countries worldwide where labels on food with GE ingredients are
legally required."
The protest follows the release of new evidence of the toxicity
GE corn by French research institute CRIIGEN. Researchers found
abnormalities in the size of livers and kidneys, as well as in
birth weights, in rats fed Monsanto's NK 603 corn. Engineered to
tolerate the company's herbicide, Round Up, the corn has been
approved for use in Canada since 2002.
"This GE corn needs to be taken off the shelves immediately,"
stressed Brandon. "These results confirm the danger of Canada's
self-regulating system in which Monsanto not only designs its own
safety trials, but analyzes its own results without independent
scrutiny."
This is the second recent case in which there has been evidence
of the toxicity of GE food: a peer-reviewed scientific study
published in March 2007 also showed evidence of toxicity in the
liver and kidneys in rats fed Monsanto's MON863 strain of corn.
The vast majority of British Columbian residents want mandatory
labelling of GE food as recommended by the provincial health
officer, according to a poll conducted for Greenpeace earlier this
year. The poll found 79 per cent of B.C. residents support
legislation requiring GE food to be labelled.