WHEREAS consumers want to know the ingredients of the foods they purchase and have the right to choose what they and their children consume or may be exposed to;
WHEREAS the government has a responsibility to protect both the environment, including biodiversity, and the health of its citizens through food safety standards and information disclosure;
WHEREAS the short- and the long-term effects of consuming foods containing genetically-modified ingredients are unknown;
WHEREAS trans-fats have clearly been demonstrated to pose a serious threat to human health;
WHEREAS current regulations in Canada permit the labeling of foods as ‘Zero Trans Fat’ that contain under 0.2 grams of trans fat per serving, an amount which can add up to significant daily consumption;
BE IT RESOLVED that the Liberal Party of Canada urge the Government of Canada to enact legislation to ensure mandatory labeling of genetically modified food and products and support extensive research on genetically modified foods including risks to both humans and animals.
National Women’s Liberal Commission
I support this resolution.
Ther are significant supply chain issue related to the absolute elimination of transfats including natural occurrence. Using a threshold to identify trans fat free is reasonable and important if we want access to high quality and inexpensive food.
Just about every agriculturally produced food that we consume has had its genetics altered from its original state through human intervention. If the organism’s genetic composition has been altered using so-called “conventional” methods of genetic manipulation it is usually subjected to far less scrutiny before it is made available for human consumption than is the case for GMOs, yet the motivation behind labelling foods containing ingredients derived from GMOs appears to be related to the presumption that consumption of these foods is inherently riskier than for other foods. This in turn seems to be based on mistrust of the technology, of the companies that have developed the technology, and of the regulators who have approved the technology. rather than on any demonstrable evidence of harm, as yet. The World Health Organization has provided a good summary of the issues pertaining to the safety of genetically modified foods that is worth reading:
http://www.who.int/foodsafety/publications/biotech/20questions/en/
If only we had a policy requiring all food to label what countries (plural if components came from different countries) the food came from rather than who imported the food…
Here’s another example of a narrow-minded approach. We should be more concerned about the labelling process in its entirety, not just genetically modified food. What about high sodium content, high sugar, etc. In our obese world, we should be striving to make our foods a lot more healthier than that supplied to us today. Our approach should be a complete re-examination of our labelling of foods, produce a national strategy towards developing a very healthy-conscious consumer, and get rid of the garbage that big business is putting in front of us in the capital rush for more almighty dollars. And in the process, make the print larger.
@GordonNeish
Thanks for posting the GMO backgrounder released by the WHO. My main concerns regarding GMO relate to unintended consequences on the environment or other food crops (Outcrossing); dependence on monotonous food crops compromising food security (Monoculture); concentrating power and intellectual property rights in the hands of only a few suppliers (Oligopoly); and the covert introduction of GMO into the marketplace (Non-Disclosure).
This resolution does not call for a ban on GMO, but only for labelling.
The preamble pontlessly introduces concerns about trans fats with no connection to the resolution. Am I missing something there? Maybe a Women’s Commission proponent can explain.
I suggest that the key issue to examine is why there is such a lack of confidence in our regulators and Canada’s regulatory system and then to take measures to restore this confidence in our regulation of food products, health products, consumer products, etc. This issue of trust is a complex one that is not limited to Canada alone and not one that can be solved simply by restoring the resources that have been drained away from our regulatory agencies by successive governments. If a substantial number of Canadians don’t trust the system, is it possible to reform the system in a way that will inrease this trust?
@ DorisAmes and GordonNeish
With respect, I believe neither of you are addressing the substance of this resolution: label food products which contain GMO.
The onus is on GMO manufacturers and food suppliers to educate the public on the safety, legitimacy, and benefits of GMO and their use in agriculture.
It is every Canadian’s right to demand the proper labelling of their foodstuffs, to know the origin and contents of what they are about to ingest or feed their children, to ensure that their purchases are consistent with their health concerns (eg allergies), religious concerns (eg pork or shellfish), economic goals (eg support local producers), and so on.
I think Doris and I agree on this point, but note that the resolution applies exclusively to GMO and not some generalized principle of labelling.
All foods should be labelled thoroughly and correctly. We should not confine proper labelling to GMO’s alone. We need to know if foods contain trans fats. We need to know how much saturated fat and what kinds of fat they contain and we need to know how much sugar they contain and what kinds of sugar. Corn syrups and sugars are very unhealthy for diabetics for instance. We need to know how much salt they contain and what chemical additives they contain. This has been neglected for too long because of the lobbying by food manufacturers. We will bankrupt the health care system if we don’t fix what is wrong with our food.
Food processors and manufacturers are currently able to label their products as GMO free, Kosher, certified organic, fair trade, bird friendly, trans fat free, sodium free, etc. and are required to provide nutrition facts and a list of ingredients. When it comes to mandatory labeling the decisions made should, in my view, be science-based and based on a thorough, transparent and competent regulatory review process, not treated as a series of one-offs. Once you start down this road, where do you stop? To me, the fact that there is a constituency that says with respect to GMOs that our regulators have gotten it wrong by not insisting on mandatory labeling of products containing GMO foods or food ingredients is a symptom of a crisis of confidence in our regulatory system. I support the part of this resolution that implicitly speaks to the need for more publicly supported research on food safety as this would contribute to the development of a better regulatory system.
This was drafted many months ago and I think we would be open to any specific suggestions that could improve it or help us partner with others who might wish to co sponsor it,
The chief concern is that we get to vote 3 times a day when we choose what we eat (see documentary Food Inc.)
However it is difficult to make an informed choice about our food choices and purchases without adequate information (eg. transfat , GMO, country of origin vis country of packaging)
Mary Pynenburg
Policy Chair National Women’s Liberal Commission
The only issues that GMO has with it is when, where and how we use this technology. The fact is, the countries who are going to benefit from this technology are heavily populated, with poor infrastructure. This is the future to world hunger, please understand the facts people. There are no health effects involved with this technology, no more than side effects from any other medication or foods.
This is Such a ridiculous comment. You are quoting what Monsanto would want you to think! There has been no long term studies on the health effects of Gmo’s EVER! The regulatory bodies that approved gmo’s in Canada did so based on the flawed and incomplete and at times falsified “testing” done by Monsanto. You need to do some more research on the effects of gmo’s here in Canada on our farmers and ultimately on our food chain world wide. An excellent source of info is the book or documentary The World According to Montsanto. There is no question that gmo’s should be labeled so Canadians will have the choice in what they feed their families. Most countries have this choice. We don’t because so far the government has been pressured to not label by the biotech companies and they have given in. Maybe you work for Monsanto…..
Concurred. Such foods could imposed risk to humans consumming said commodity.
People need to be able make conscious decisions on the food they eat for health or other reasons . The resolution could be broader but the women were most concerned with ” hidden” GMO food. This does not say that we cannot have GMO food but that it should be labelled . For those who have confidence in GMO food, they should not fear openness
Yes! Give us the choice! The problem is that studies have been done showing that over 90 percent of people will avoid gmo’s when they are labelled….. Monsanto knows this, that’s why they have manipulated the govt so far!