Corner Post | Farm Commentary by Elbert van Donkersgoed | October 22, 1999
Yesterday, governments in the European Union agreed to a GM-free label. Food will be allowed to contain up to one per cent of genetically modified material while still being labelled GM-free.
Meanwhile, many farm leaders, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food all continue to oppose mandatory labelling of GM-food in Canada. Why?
Those who resist labelling GM-foods hold science in high regard.
Our culture is trying to relegate our values, belief systems and our faith perspectives to our private lives. There is resistance to including principles and ethics in the debate around public choices and government policies. Meanwhile, science is welcome as an arbiter of public policy. Science-based food safety rules are the norm. Europe's refusal to accept North American beef over the growth hormone issue is seen as a refusal to accept sound science.
For some purposes science is seen as a step above the competing values and interests that live among us. But science makes mistakes. There is good science and bad. There is important and frivolous. There is science that is crucial to sustained human life and there is science that is just for fun.
For me, science must remain under the control of our principles and our way of life. Science is just a tool-a powerful tool-but just a tool for creating choices. Labelling the results is one way to honour the values and beliefs that make us human.
Those who resist labelling GM-foods do not want to give up marketplace clout to consumers.
The marketing strategy around GM-foods has been to include it everywhere in the food system without fanfare on the assumption that it will make no substantive difference to consumers. Science has assured us that there is no significant distinction between GM and conventional foods.
A label on a GM-food will put market clout in the hands of consumers in the superstore aisles. It won't matter whether the consumer is troubled by the science of genetic modification or simply resists change. The GM-food may be passed by.
For agriculture, the consumer is more important than the technology. Farmers have a long history of trying new inventions. In the end, consumers buying our products decide which developments survive.
For me, consumers must be part of the decision. I have as much confidence in their ability to make choices as I have in the choices made by science. Labelling will return market clout to consumers.
The Europeans are showing us the way: support genetic modification as a tool to improve the food system and give consumers clout in the marketplace.
Elbert van Donkersgoed edits Earthkeeping Ontario and has been senior staff with the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario, Canada since 1971. Corner Post can be heard on CFCO Radio, Chatham and CKNX Radio, Wingham. Copyright 1999 Terra Coeur. Send requests to print or circulate electronically to [email protected].
