Vancouver Sun | December 21, 1999
Herb Barbolet, Executive Director, FarmFolk/CityFolk Society writes that if what Professor Zamir Punja seeks is well-balanced debate on genetically modified food, he certainly did nothing to advance his cause (Genetics and food already mix, Forum, Dec. 17). Barbolet says his commentary simply restates propaganda from transnational biotech corporations and then he makes several assertions stating that nothing need be done to protect the consumer.
Prof. Punja illogically argues that this "new technology" is nothing different from what has always been done by farmers. To get approval from the federal government to sell genetically modified foods, the companies have successfully argued that these foods are substantially the equivalent of existing foods. So far, so good, but then they turn around and apply for, and receive, patents on these foods and processes on the basis that they are novel foods and have never before existed.
For thousands of years, peasants and farmers have selected the best specimens from their production and saved and bred those plants and animals. None of those farmers and peasants went into a laboratory and removed chromosomes from one species and injected them into a different species. This is a new technology, albeit young and primitive.
It is not appropriate to unleash the largest experiment the world had ever seen using humans as guinea pigs to test the long range effects of genetically modified foods Prof. Punja wants to debate the issues, but in the meantime allow a few huge, transnational corporations reap billions of dollars in sales, force people to ingest foods they do not want, and wait 20 years to see if any disaster befalls the population. Certainly let us have an intelligent debate, after a ban, or at least a moratorium, is in place.
