March 28, 2000 / The Montreal Gazette / Mark Abley
The Canadian federal government is, according to this story, paying two of the largest consumer magazines in the country, Canadian Living and Coup de Pouce, to publish supplements asserting the safety of genetically engineered food.
The supplements are due to hit the newsstands in early June, packaged into
the July 2000 edition.
The story says that the supplements are sponsored by the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency, which falls under the Department of Agriculture and
Agri-Food. The agency's stated mission is "to provide safe food, consumer
protection and market access."
Since its founding in 1997, however, the CFIA has, the story says, also
become an enthusiastic backer of biotechnology.
Margaret Kenny, director of the biotechnology office in the CFIA, was quoted
as saying, "There seems to be a real thirst for information about what we
do. These supplements are a vehicle for us to provide balanced, factual,
unemotional information about biotechnology and the regulatory system."
Bradford Duplisea of the Canadian Health Coalition was quoted as saying,
"The CFIA keeps saying they don't have a dual mandate. But they're
blatantly promoting biotechnology. It's a conflict of interest and an
inherent contradiction."
Ken Rubin, a public-interest researcher and organic farmer living near
Ottawa, was quoted as saying, "They're not a transparent agency. But
they're willing to spend a lot of money on communications strategies."
The story says that the supplements are the fruit of a $302,000 contract
awarded in November to Telemedia Communications Inc. of Toronto. At the
time, Telemedia owned Canadian Living and Coup de Pouce, along with nine
other consumer magazines in both official languages.
In January, all of Telemedia's magazines were bought by GTC Transcontinental
Group Ltd.
The CFIA did not hold a public tender before giving out the contract. A
government statement announcing the deal was quoted as saying that
"Telemedia Communications Inc. has demonstrated strong creative
achievements in their Canadian Living publication, which offers an excellent
communication network for the resource booklets. Canadian Living has a
reputation for providing Canadian families with trusted and credible
information ... and has in the past published articles on biotechnology."
Last May, the magazine distributed a pro-biotechnology pamphlet called A
Growing Appetite for Information. It was co-produced by the Consumers
Association of Canada and the Food Biotechnology Communications Network, a
Guelph, Ont., group that unites government officials with leaders in the
biotechnology industry.
On its Web site, the network says that it "is supported by Agriculture and
Agri-Food Canada."
Kerry Mitchell, the publisher of Canadian Living, was cited as saying the
editorial content for the new supplement is to be written by members of the
magazine's New Business Initiatives Group.
Coup de Pouce will publish a French translation. Mitchell added that it will
be clear to readers that the supplement does not form part of the regular
magazine.
Yet whereas magazine articles normally arise from independent research on
the part of journalists, the information in the supplements will come from
the food-inspection agency.
Mitchell was quoted as saying, "Biotechnology is a complex issue. But we
tackle many complex issues and clarify them for our readers. The benefit to
the food-inspection agency in having a third party address this is to try to
address the consumer concern."
Broadcaster Peter Downie, who teaches media ethics for Concordia
University's journalism program, was quoted as saying that "it's incumbent
on Canadian Living to make it very clear that they're being paid to present
this information. It's a matter of making sure that the reader knows where
the information is coming from. Then it's up to the reader to use his or her
own brain."
The story says that Ottawa has a strategy to persuade Canadians that the
increasing use of genetically engineered foods poses no major risks to
public health or the environment. As The Gazette reported last month,
Industry Canada has given nearly $6 million to BIOTECanada, the industry's
main lobby group, since 1994 - money aimed, the story says, at improving the
public image of biotechnology.
Even so, surveys show that most Canadians are yet to be convinced. A Gazette
poll of 966 Montrealers taken in December found almost unanimous support for
the mandatory labeling of genetically modified foods - and over half of all
respondents thought that such foods should be banned outright. Women were
especially likely to distrust the novel foods.
To dissipate suspicions about the safety of biotechnology, the industry has
chosen to make women the main targets of its public-relations thrust.
(posted without permission)
