GREENPEACE SAYS BRITISH COLUMBIANS WANT LABELS ON GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD
		The British Columbia government is trying to figure out which ministry should be handling the issue of whether to label genetically modified foods at a time when a Greenpeace poll suggests consumers in the province are worried about it. The poll conducted by Strategic Communications surveyed 601 eligible B.C. voters and found almost 80 per cent of them said they want the government to force companies to reveal if the food they are eating has been genetically engineered. When asked about the poll's findings, the Environment Ministry transferred the question to the Agriculture Ministry, and a spokesman there said he'd have to talk to federal Health Department officials in Ottawa later. GREENPEACE SAYS BRITISH COLUMBIANS WANT LABELS ON GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD SOURCE: Brandon Sum, Canada URL: http://www.brandonsun.com/story.php?story_id=39780 DATE: 18.01.2007 VICTORIA (CP) - The British Columbia government is trying to figure out which ministry should be handling the issue of whether to label genetically modified foods at a time when a Greenpeace poll suggests consumers in the province are worried about it. The poll conducted by Strategic Communications surveyed 601 eligible B.C. voters and found almost 80 per cent of them said they want the government to force companies to reveal if the food they are eating has been genetically engineered. When asked about the poll's findings, the Environment Ministry transferred the question to the Agriculture Ministry, and a spokesman there said he'd have to talk to federal Health Department officials in Ottawa later. The federal government has called for voluntary labelling of genetically engineered foods and the provincial Liberal government in Quebec has promised to introduce a food-labelling law. Greenpeace estimates up to 70 per cent of the 30,000 processed foods on grocery store shelves in Canada include genetically engineered organisms, but consumers have no way of knowing it. There are no long-term studies on the effects of genetically engineered foods and biotechnology on human health, Greenpeace spokesman Josh Brandon said. "There hasn't been sufficient testing of genetically modified foods," he said. "Most people in B.C. and most Canadians don't want to be guinea pigs for this kind of technology." Corn, soy, canola and cotton are the major crops being genetically modified, but biotechnology companies are looking to experiment with numerous others, Brandon said. "People have a right to be scared about things that they don't know that food companies are trying to hide from them," he said. "If this is a truly safe technology then why doesn't the government label it and give people the right to choose whether they want to be consuming this kind of food or not." Many of the genetically engineered products found in Canadian foods come in the form of processed ingredients like corn fructose, Brandon said. In the United States, the government said last month that food from cloned animals is safe to eat. After more than five years of study, the Food and Drug Administration concluded that cloned livestock is "virtually indistinguishable" from conventional livestock. The FDA believes "that meat and milk from cattle, swine and goat clones is as safe to eat as the food we eat every day," said Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine. Officials said they don't think special labels are needed, although a decision on labelling is pending. To produce a clone, the nucleus of a donor egg is removed and replaced with the DNA of a cow, pig or other animal. A tiny electric shock coaxes the egg to grow into a copy of the original animal. Cloning companies say it's just another reproductive technology, such as artificial insemination. Some U.S. surveys have shown people to be uncomfortable with food from cloned animals - 64 per cent said they were uncomfortable with such food in a September poll by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology, a non-partisan research group. But in Asia, countries like China, India, Singapore and Taiwan place great emphasis on their agricultural biotech industries. Taiwan is turning algae and fish scales into skin-care products. Herbs are made into health foods and evergreen trees are cultivated to make anticancer drugs. In North America, fashion designers are using a genetically engineered corn fibre called Ingeo to make dresses. Brandon said the food labelling issue has the potential to influence voters in British Columbia. According to the Greenpeace poll, labelling is an issue that crosses party lines with support for mandatory labelling high among women, voters between 35 and 49 years old and supporters of the Green Party and New Democrats. The poll was conducted between Nov. 23 and Nov. 30, 2006 and has a margin of error of plus or minus four per cent, 19 times out of 20. BC VOTERS DEMAND GE LABELLING SOURCE: Greenpeace Canada, Canada URL: http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/gelabelling-in-bc DATE: 19.01.2007 ........................................................................... Poll results on GE labelling in British Columbia, 19 January 2007 http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/documents-and-links/publications/poll-results-on-ge-labelling-i ........................................................................... Vancouver, Canada — The vast majority of British Columbians support legislation making it mandatory to identify GE ingredients on the labels of the food they buy. Canadians want to know what they are eating. When sitting down with the family for dinner in the evening or packing school lunches, they want to know whether or not the food they are feeding their children has been contaminated with unnatural organisms engineered by agricultural and chemical companies bent on increasing their profits. Right now people have no way of telling if their food has been genetically modified. Unlike many countries around the world, there is currently no requirement in Canada for genetically engineered (GE) ingredients to be listed on the label, as there is for fat content, the amount of salt or the calorie count. DNA for dinner Greenpeace intends to change that with the backing of BC residents, who, according to a new survey conducted by Stratcom Canada for Greenpeace, overwhelmingly want GE food to be identified. By far the vast majority of those polled (79 per cent) support legislation requiring all GE ingredients to be labelled, with support particularly high among women (84 per cent), voters 35-49 years old (84 per cent), and Green and NDP voters (90 per cent and 85 per cent). This should not be surprising as BC residents made clear their wish to avoid GE food when Powell River and Salt Spring Island were declared GE free zones in 2004. Nor is Greenpeace the only one calling on the BC government to make labelling of GE ingredients mandatory. As well as other environmental and farm organizations supporting such legislation, the province’s own public health officer, in his 2005 annual report, made the same recommendation. He also called for the implementation of the 2001 Royal Society of Canada Report, which criticized the approval process for GE organisms because of a lack of proper scientific testing. The Royal Society of Canada’s expert panel on biotechnology warns that GE food could pose serious risks to human health, cause extensive irremediable disruptions to the natural ecosystems and seriously diminish biodiversity. To date, though, BC health officer’s advice has not been heeded. Concerned Canadians British Columbian residents are not the only Canadians concerned about what is in their food. In Quebec, residents have been overwhelmingly responsive to Greenpeace’s campaign there to get the province to make labelling the law. ***** BC Voters Support Mandatory Labelling of GE Food New poll shows British Columbians support mandatory labelling of GE food and would make it an issue in the next provincial election 19 January 2007 Vancouver, Canada — The vast majority of British Columbian residents believe that the government should follow the advice of the provincial health officer and make the labelling of genetically engineered (GE) food mandatory, a poll conducted by Stratcom Communications on behalf of Greenpeace Canada shows. The vast majority of British Columbian residents believe that the government should follow the advice of the provincial health officer and make the labelling of genetically engineered (GE) food mandatory, a poll conducted by Stratcom Communications on behalf of Greenpeace Canada shows. “The voters of BC have said with unanimity that they want to know what is in their food. They demand to know if their food is contaminated with genetically engineered organisms,” said Josh Brandon, GE campaigner with Greenpeace. “The liberal government of Quebec has already committed to GE labelling, and 45 countries around the world label GE food. British Columbians deserve nothing less. They have the right to know what they are eating, and politicians hoping to win votes in the upcoming provincial election are advised to listen to their demands.” The results of the poll, which found 79% of BC residents support legislation requiring all GE food to be labelled, indicate that the issue could be significant in the next provincial election. Responses show that GE food is a concern that crosses party lines with support for mandatory labelling particularly high among women (84%), voters 35-49 years old (84%), and Green and NDP voters (90% and 85%). “The idea that genes from bacteria or other organisms may be mixed with their corn, soy and canola does not sit well with British Columbians,” added Brandon. “Labelling is essential if people are to have the right to say no to this untested and potentially environmentally dangerous technology.” It is estimated that as many as 70% of the 30,000 processed foods on grocery store shelves in Canada include genetically engineered organisms, but consumers wouldn’t know it. Despite the call for voluntary labelling by the federal government, not one food has been found in Canada labelled as containing genetically modified organisms. Nor does the public or even the scientists know the effects of GE food on human health as there have been no long-term studies to determine this. “Residents in BC are very sophisticated in terms of what they want from labels,” added Brandon. “The majority of those who support mandatory labelling want individual ingredients that have been genetically modified to be identified. What this says is that consumers feel they have a right to more information about what they are putting in their bodies.” The Stratcom poll of 601 BC eligible voters was conducted between November 23 and November 30, 2006. It has a margin of error 4.0%. A copy of the report is available on request. For more information contact: Josh Brandon, Greenpeace Canada, GE campaigner, cell: 604-721-7493