Proposed law gives consumer the right to know what they feed the kids

19 November 2007

BC residents have the right to know what is in the food they are eating.

Vancouver, Canada — Canadians, some at least, may soon have the right to know what they are eating. Legislation just introduced in British Columbia would require all GE food to be labelled, something a Greenpeace poll shows the vast majority of B.C. residents want. Right now, about 70 per cent of all processed food on Canadian store shelves contains GE ingredients, though you wouldn’t know it.

To fill that information gap, NDP MLA, Gregor Robertson has introduced Right to Know legislation, which if passed, would make British Columbia the first province requiring GE food to be labelled. Currently, there are virtually no products labelled as containing GE ingredients, despite a volunteer program set up by the government more than three years ago.

“This law is needed because Canadian companies have failed to act,” says Josh Brandon, Greenpeace agriculture campaigner. He hopes that if the Right to Know legislation passes in B. C. it would serve as a model for other jurisdictions and push provinces such as Quebec, which has long promised to enact mandatory labelling but has failed to deliver.

The proposed legislation also requires toxic and cancer causing substances to be labelled and would force companies to register their toxic and GE products, enabling consumers to make informed choices about what they eat.

The dangers of GE crops to human health and the environment have been identified by the Royal Society of Canada, which made 58 recommendations to government, all of which have gone unheeded. As well, public health officials including the B.C. health officer, Dr. Perry Kendall and chief medical officer, Dr John Blatherwick of the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority have called on the government to step forward and require GE food to be labelled.

GE organisms threaten biodiversity by contaminating organic, conventional and even wild plant populations. The commercialization of GE crops also increases the use of pesticides as almost all GE plants commercially grown in Canada today are designed to either produce insecticides or to tolerate large doses of chemical herbicides. With mandatory labelling, consumers will be able to support sustainable agriculture and food production.