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Canada: CBAN Protest Event Notice and Alert: Canada Close to Allowing Unapproved GM Food Contamination in Imports
Join us for the fun “Protest Potluck” in Montreal, Monday July 20, 5-7PM against corporate control and GMOs.
Enjoy great music, new info, and make some noise while the biggest biotech industry lobby group in the world meets across the street!
Manif-Potluck! Contre le contrôle corporatif et les OGM.
Lundi 20 juillet 2015, 17h à 19h Montréal, Place Riopelle (en face du palais des congrès). Discours et musique festive.
https://www.facebook.com/events/280062458831194/
http://cban.ca/EventsOrganized by Vigilance OGM and the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN)
Why Protest on July 20? : The World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology is happening in Montreal July 19-22. Companies want to turn plants and elements of living organisms into biofuels and chemical factories. They are trying to sell the idea of a “bioeconomy” based on synthesizing and engineering the genetic make-up of crops, trees, microbes, algae, and other life-forms. We need real solutions. We need to reduce consumption and respect life. Come to share good food and music with us. Stop corporations from taking control over food and life. For more information about industry conference and the issues we are concerned about: www.cban.ca/BIO2015
Alert: Canada Close to Allowing Unapproved GM Food Contamination in Imports
July 7, 2015. Ottawa. The Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN) has denounced the federal government’s proposal to allow exceptions to Health Canada’s safety assessment of genetically modified (GM) foods.
The new policy would accept a “low level presence” (LLP) of contamination in food imports from GM products that have not yet been assessed for safety by Health Canada, if the GM food has been approved in a foreign jurisdiction that Health Canada judges trustworthy.
“This trade policy is unjustifiable from a health and safety perspective,” said Lucy Sharratt of CBAN. “Health Canada’s assessment of GM food safety should be applied to all the GM foods Canadians eat. The government should not create any exceptions to its own safety assessments of GM foods.”
The policy would remove Canada’s “zero-tolerance” for some unapproved GM foods that contaminate imports. The stated aim of the new LLP policy is to “provide a model that could be adopted globally” (1) as Canada continues to ask countries around the world to accept GM contamination from Canada as safe, even if regulators in importing countries have not yet assessed the safety of the GM product in question.
“We’re concerned that removing Health Canada’s safety assessment for some GM foods, however small the percentage, could put the health of Canadians at risk,” said Sharratt. “We need more regulation of GM foods, not less.”
CBAN submitted comments to Agriculture Canada (2) in response to a revised policy draft that is expected to be finalized later this summer. CBAN submitted comments on an earlier draft in 2013 and participated in several government consultations.
“There is no scientific basis for allowing a small amount of contamination from GM foods that Health Canada has not approved,” said Sharratt.
CBAN argues that to protect Canada’s export trade, the LLP policy proposal should be replaced by increased efforts to segregate GM and non-GM crops, and the inclusion of an assessment of potential export market harm before GM crops are approved in Canada.
-END-
For more information: Lucy Sharratt, Coordinator, Canadian Biotechnology Action Network, 613 241 2267 ext 25 www.cban.ca/llp
Notes:
1) Kirsten Finstad, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Addessing Low-level Presence in Food, Feed and Seed – an update, Presentation to the Canadian Seed Trade Association, Quebec City, July 16, 2013
2) CBAN’s comments and further information is posted at www.cban.ca/llp
Lucy Sharratt, Coordinator
Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN)
Collaborative Campaigning for Food Sovereignty and Environmental Justice
Suite 206, 180 Metcalfe Street
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K2P 1P5
Phone: 613 241 2267 ext. 25
Fax: 613 241 2506
[email protected]
www.cban.ca
https://www.facebook.com/cban.canadian.biotechnology.action.network
@biotechaction
