FFWD Weekly
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Viewpoint by Hamish MacAulay Genetically modified food is one of the hottest stories in Europe this summer. Protests by thousands, industrial sabotage by a few, and wild government reactions, including food bans, have characterized the frenzied debate over the introduction of biotechnology into European agriculture. In Canada, despite the much larger penetration of biotechnology into farming, consumers have not reacted to the new foods. The amount of information available on the subject is poor and most Canadians remain uninformed about the issue. As a result, the industry has expanded quickly and, in just a few short years, genetically modified (GM) foods are on the verge of dominating Canadian agriculture. GM foods are new strains of crops that have been altered by introducing genes from other plants, animals, bacteria or viruses. It is different from the traditional method of hybridization because it involves the transfer of specific characteristics from one species to another. This is not a new frontier of science. Biotechnology companies are eager to talk about the future of GM foods and how they will grow faster and make people healthier, but GM foods are already on the shelves. The current industry focus has little to do with human health. The biotechnology companies, realizing they had to sell their products to farmers before selling them to consumers, have focused on creating crops that either produce their own insecticides or are herbicide resistant. Despite holding patents and monopolies on the products, companies such as Monsanto have successfully convinced farmers to use their crops. Almost one-third of the corn grown in Ontario is now genetically modified to produce its own insecticide. Similarily modified potatoes are also being grown for use in processed food and the fast food industry. The most common canola and soybean varieties have been modified to be herbicide resistant, allowing farmers to use more herbicide without hurting their crops. In Europe, the opposition to GM food has tapped into a strong public distrust of regulatory agencies, and the protests have been fruitful. A number of European countries have suddenly banned genetically modified foods, and governments and biotechnology companies across the continent are backtracking and starting the war for hearts and minds to show that the new crops are safe. It is a fight the Canadian government and biotechnology industry does not have. A government-sponsored study for the International Centre for Agricultural Science and Technology, performed in 1996 as the first GM crops were being introduced in Canada, found that Canadians take their food safety for granted. We believe the food industry produces healthy and safe products, and the Canadian government would not allow a product on the shelves if it is unsafe. This complacency has allowed the use of GM crops to expand quickly. The Canadian Agri-Food Research Council, in its strategy for development of the GM crop industry, noted that the lack of public interest allowed them to place dealing with public concerns on GM issues at the bottom of their priorities. A public discussion is needed in Canada. There is the fundamental question of why so much money and effort is being spent on increasing our food capacity when the West already has a food surplus that is causing nasty trade wars, and many in the rest of the world still lack basic subsistence. The main issue specific to GM crops is the long-term effects that introducing radically changed crops will have on the local ecosystem. GM crops have only been cultivated in Canada for three years, yet the industry and regulators glibly say they are safe. They may be, but the regulatory process for new crops is not detailed and stringent enough to deal with the GM foods. Studying the effects of insecticide-producing crops on local ecosystems is a long-term proposition that the government and industry have failed to undertake. Preliminary, but disturbing, reports on the potential effects of GM corn on the Monarch butterfly, already an environmental cause due to habitat destruction, are beginning to appear. Industry and government have also failed to adequately investigate the potential for GM qualities to be transferred to unwanted plants. The development of the anti-herbicidal qualities of GM foods in the weeds farmers want to eliminate would be an agricultural and environmental nightmare. Granted, these are long-term, amorphous concerns, but they deserve more than the dismissive attitude that the industry has taken towards them so far. Industry has an extremely poor record on evaluating the long-term consequences of its development, and the cost of evaluating it now is small compared to the cost of cleaning up the problem later. Web resources: • www.foodbiotech.org – Pro-biotechnology. An excellent archive of news stories. • www.monsantoag.org – Go see the company in the middle of the FrankenFood scare in Britain. • www.natural-law.ca/genetic/geindex.html – Yes, it is the Natural Law party, but it is a source of Canadian information. Extensive links to anti-biotech sites. • www.purefood.org – Extensive site that deals with a number of food issues.

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