Health Authority Calls for Mandatory Labelling of Genetically Engineered Foods

12 October 2007

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Canada — Labeling of genetically engineered foods is a "very important nutrition and health issue" according to the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority. Genetically engineered foods raise serious potential health risks and require monitoring. The largest health agency in British Columbia, serving 1 million residents in Vancouver and nearby communities, has called on BC health minister George Abbott to adopt mandatory labelling of genetically engineered foods and seeds.

"Mandatory labeling is a necessary starting point to ensure the capacity to track and monitor the impact of GMOs and to provide consumer choice," writes Chief Medical Officer, Dr. John Blatherwick.

This demand follows a report issued last year by the BC Provincial Health Office which also called for mandatory labeling of GMOs, as well the 2001 Royal Society of Canada report "Elements of Precaution: The Regulation of Food Biotechnology in Canada".

So far, the Gordon Campbell, George Abbott and the rest of BC government has tried to avoid the issue or pass the issue off to other levels of government. Increasingly, they are becoming isolated as a consensus emerges among health professionals, scientific experts and the vast majority of British Columbians who want the right to know what is in the food the eat.