April 8, 2000 / The Fredericton Daily Gleaner
Mike Mazerolle of Fredericton writes that many New Brunswickers received a 12-page pamphlet prepared by the government of Canada entitled Food Safety and You.
One section of this document endeavours to justify the marvels of biotechnology and explain how the genetic modification of organisms will benefit human-kind. However, this document is misleading because it fails to inform New Brunswickers about the potential risks associated with creating and releasing these "Frankenstein" organisms into our environment, and indeed, why the principal beneficiaries of this technology are large multi-million, and multi-billion dollar corporations, and not the consumer.
For example, the document states "And some of these new, genetically altered crops may reduce the need for chemicals in agriculture." In fact, the reverse is true as well. An example presented in The Telegraph Journal on Saturday, April 1 (Farmers shy away from biotech crops this year) stated, "About 57 per cent of soybeans last year were herbicide-resistant."
By genetically modifying a crop so that it is resistant to a particular herbicide, it facilitates the use of chemicals. In this case, the farmer can apply prodigious amounts of chemicals, ensuring that all "weeds" are exterminated, but not the choice crop species. This will, says Mazerolle, lead to an increase in chemical use.
This serves only to pad the wallets of large chemical and genetically modified seed manufacturers, who have patents on these organisms as a result of intellectual property laws. Patents ensure that they alone benefit and that their activities in the lab persist in secrecy.
Although some testing of products is completed in controlled environments, our current knowledge of ecology makes it is impossible to determine the potential impact that these introduced organisms will have when they are released into the natural and uncontrolled systems that are reality.
Mazerolle says that a cautious approach, known as the "precautionary principle" in the scientific community, is imperative if we are to avoid ecological disasters in the future. Moreover, under current legislation there is no way for New Brunswickers to know whether or not we are consuming these products, since corporations are not required to indicate if a product contains any genetically modified constituents.
(posted without permission)
