Greenpeace activists have created a 61-metre crop circle in a corn field in Abbotsford, British Columbia. The field contains Monsanto’s NK603 genetically engineered (GE) corn, which scientists recently linked with liver and kidney toxicity in rats. Greenpeace is calling for mandatorylabelling of GE foods across Canada.
Genetic engineering is an unpredictable and untested technology
whichnew scientific evidence shows may result in toxic corn
entering thefood system. Canada is one of a handful of countries
that practice GEon a commercial scale, and that lack mandatory
labelling.
Check out high resolution photos of the action at
gallery.greenpeace.ca
Ifthe government will not label GE food, Greenpeace will take
initiative,locate GE fields and label the crops through actions
like this. Canadagrows over 5.8 million hectares of GE crops,
including 820,000 hectaresof GE corn. That's an area of GE crops
more than twice the size ofVancouver Island. We are one of the top
producers of GE worldwidealong with USA, Argentina, and Brazil.
Forty countries around the worldalready have mandatory GE labelling
in place. This action puts thegovernment of B.C., as well as
ministers across the country on noticethat we expect results on our
key demand for mandatory labelling of allgenetically engineered
foods.
The field you see in thesepictures is within a few kilometres of
organic farms, an elementaryschool and along a route promoted by
the local chamber of commerce as apastoral "Circle Farm Tour." But
there is nothing idyllic about geneticengineering. GE spreads and
contaminates other crops. Greenpeace andGeneWatch UK have
documented 142 incidents of contamination in the past10 years.
The herbicides which GE crops are designed to work withdestroy
local vegetation and reduce the biodiversity of theenvironment.
New evidence shows Monsanto's herbicide Round Up candisrupt sexual
hormones even at what are considered "non-toxiclevels". GE is not
safe for the environment.
Take Action
1)Write an email to B.C.
Premier Gordon Campbell at premier@gov.bc.ca, asking him to put
in place mandatory labelling legislation. Here is a sample letter you can use. Should
B.C. or Quebec adopt mandatory labelling it will put pressure
onother provinces and the federal government to follow suit.
2)
ContactGerry Ritz, federal Minister of Agriculture, and demand
that GE corn be taken off the market in view of recent scientific
evidence.
3) If you live in B.C., download our petition, sign it, distribute it
in your community and return it to Greenpeace at 1726 Commercial
Drive, Vancouver BC, V5N 4A3.
4) If you live in Quebec, please send
an e-mail to Jean Charest asking him to keep his promise on
mandatory GE labelling (in French).
Health and GMOs
GEmight not be good for human health either. Tests done on corn
growingin the field indicated that it contained a type of Monsanto
GE cornknown as NK603. This product was the subject of a study by
the Frenchindependent research institute CRIIGEN which found signs
of toxicity inrat feeding trials. Rats fed the GE corn NK603 had
statisticallysignificant differences in their kidneys and livers as
well as unusualgrowth rates. This research follows on the
publication of a study inthe peer reviewed publication Archives of
Environmental Contaminationand Toxicology showing further signs of
toxicity in rats for anothervariety of Monsanto's GE corn MON863.
The study authors concluded:"with the present data it can not be
concluded that GM corn MON863 is asafe product." Both these
studies were based on safety test dataMonsanto submitted to
European regulatory authorities. Greenpeaceobtained these data
through a German court order and turned them overto CRIIGEN for
independent analysis in 2005. This controversy putsinto question
the degree of seriousness of government regulatoryprocesses, as
already well documented in the 2001 Royal society ofCanada
report. In a response addressed to Greenpeace on July 24,2007,
the federal ministry of Agriculture refused to change policydespite
recent scientific analysis that Greenpeace submitted to them ina
letter dated April 12 2007.
Along with the two studies byCRIIGEN, a third study by Norwegian
scientists found another variety ofGE corn, MON810 to cause immune
responses in salmon. This recent spateof studies on the health
effects of GE confirms Greenpeace's warningsthat GE should not be
released into the environment or into the foodsystem. Greenpeace
has compiled extensive evidence of the potentialhealth dangers of
GE in a submission to the B.C. Conversation onHealth, a public
consultation led by the B.C. ministry of health.
Fortycountries around the world already have mandatory
labellinglegislation, including Europe, South Korea, Japan and
Australia. Lastyear, the Quebec government released a report
showing that the cost ofGE labelling would be only a fraction of
previous estimates done byindustry and the B.C. Provincial Health
Officer recommended mandatorylabelling in his annual report.
Recent polls in Quebec and B.C. haveshown overwhelming support for
mandatory labelling of GE foods. InQuebec, a Leger Marketing poll
released in May showed 86 per centsupport for mandatory
labelling. A Strategic Communications pollreleased in January
showed 79 per cent of British Columbians wantmandatory labelling
before the next provincial election.
There are too many question marks around GE.