Greenpeace activists have created a 61-metre crop circle in a corn field in Abbotsford, British Columbia. The field contains Monsanto’s NK603 genetically engineered (GE) corn, which scientists recently linked with liver and kidney toxicity in rats. Greenpeace is calling for mandatory labelling of GE foods across Canada.
Greenpeace activists have created a 61-metre crop circle in a corn field in Abbotsford, British Columbia. The field contains Monsanto’s NK603 genetically engineered (GE) corn, which scientists recently linked with liver and kidney toxicity in rats. Greenpeace is calling for mandatory labelling of GE foods across Canada.
Early this morning, Greenpeace activists labelled a genetically engineered (GE) corn field near Abbotsford, B.C. with a 61 metre question mark to highlight the absence of GE food labelling in Canada. Also, Greenpeace wanted to draw attention to the fact that there are many remaining questions about the safety of genetic engineering.
Genetic engineering is an unpredictable and untested technology which new scientific evidence shows may result in toxic corn entering the food system. Canada is one of a handful of countries that practice GE on a commercial scale, and that lack mandatory labelling.
If the government will not label GE food, Greenpeace will take initiative, locate GE fields and label the crops through actions like this. Canada grows over 5.8 million hectares of GE crops, including 820,000 hectares of GE corn. That’s an area of GE crops more than twice the size of Vancouver Island. We are one of the top producers of GE worldwide along with USA, Argentina, and Brazil. Forty countries around the world already have mandatory GE labelling in place. This action puts the government of B.C., as well as ministers across the country on notice that we expect results on our key demand for mandatory labelling of all genetically engineered foods.
The field you see in these pictures is within a few kilometres of organic farms, an elementary school and along a route promoted by the local chamber of commerce as a pastoral “Circle Farm Tour.” But there is nothing idyllic about genetic engineering. GE spreads and contaminates other crops. Greenpeace and GeneWatch UK have documented 142 incidents of contamination in the past 10 years. The herbicides which GE crops are designed to work with destroy local vegetation and reduce the biodiversity of the environment. New evidence shows Monsanto’s herbicide Round Up can disrupt sexual hormones even at what are considered “non-toxic levels”. GE is not safe for the environment.
Health and GMOs
GE might not be good for human health either. Tests done on corn growing in the field indicated that it contained a type of Monsanto GE corn known as NK603. This product was the subject of a study by the French independent research institute CRIIGEN which found signs of toxicity in rat feeding trials. Rats fed the GE corn NK603 had statistically significant differences in their kidneys and livers as well as unusual growth rates. This research follows on the publication of a study in the peer reviewed publication Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology showing further signs of toxicity in rats for another variety of Monsanto’s GE corn MON863. The study authors concluded: “with the present data it can not be concluded that GM corn MON863 is a safe product.” Both these studies were based on safety test data Monsanto submitted to European regulatory authorities. Greenpeace obtained these data through a German court order and turned them over to CRIIGEN for independent analysis in 2005. This controversy puts into question the degree of seriousness of government regulatory processes, as already well documented in the 2001 Royal society of Canada report. In a response addressed to Greenpeace on July 24, 2007, the federal ministry of Agriculture refused to change policy despite recent scientific analysis that Greenpeace submitted to them in a letter dated April 12 2007.
Along with the two studies by CRIIGEN, a third study by Norwegian scientists found another variety of GE corn, MON810 to cause immune responses in salmon. This recent spate of studies on the health effects of GE confirms Greenpeace’s warnings that GE should not be released into the environment or into the food system. Greenpeace has compiled extensive evidence of the potential health dangers of GE in a submission to the B.C. Conversation on Health, a public consultation led by the B.C. ministry of health.
Forty countries around the world already have mandatory labelling legislation, including Europe, South Korea, Japan and Australia. Last year, the Quebec government released a report showing that the cost of GE labelling would be only a fraction of previous estimates done by industry and the B.C. Provincial Health Officer recommended mandatory labelling in his annual report. Recent polls in Quebec and B.C. have shown overwhelming support for mandatory labelling of GE foods. In Quebec, a Leger Marketing poll released in May showed 86 per cent support for mandatory labelling. A Strategic Communications poll released in January showed 79 per cent of British Columbians want mandatory labelling before the next provincial election.
There are too many question marks around GE.
