A number of House of Commons health committee members have made it
clear they are skeptical of genetically modified food and in favour of
mandatory labels.
The committee opened hearings on GM food labels last week.
The skeptics felt their case was strengthened when Health Canada
officials told the committee they do not yet have a good system for
keeping track of whether GM food creates health problems over the long
term.
“We certainly recognize there are things we don’t know,” said Karen
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Dodds, director general of the Health Canada food directorate.
But the Health Canada witnesses also said there is no evidence that any
GM food on the market poses a health risk. If it did, they added, it
would not be approved.
Skeptical MPs were not appeased.
“People have to know what they are eating,” New Brunswick Liberal
Jeannot Castonguay told Health Canada officials, who conceded they had
“a problem” in tracking food once it is sold.
“That is another reason to have mandatory labelling,” Castonguay said.
Vancouver Liberal Hedy Frey, who is also a doctor and former junior
cabinet minister, said consumers have a right to know if they are
buying GM food. A voluntary labelling system promoted by the government
leaves it up to companies who may have something to hide to decide what
information to give out.
“You are not giving consumers a choice if you don’t put the statement
on,” Fry said.
A parade of government witnesses from health, industry and agriculture,
as well as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, were called before the
committee to explain the government approach.
They all stressed Canada’s food safety testing and the lack of evidence
that GM food that has already been approved is different from
conventionally produced food. They noted that up to 70 percent of foods
on store shelves now contains genetically modified canola, corn or
soybean products.
Still, Toronto area Liberal MP Judy Sgro said that many Canadians
oppose genetic modification and insist on knowing which GM foods to
avoid. She said many people are afraid that a health problem will be
discovered only after long-term consumption.
“I don’t have a huge level of confidence,” she said.
As hearings began, most Liberal MPs on the health committee seemed
skeptical of arguments in support of voluntary labelling rules, while
Bloc Québecois and New Democrats were insisting mandatory labels are
necessary.
Canadian Alliance MPs on the committee began the hearings by probing
for information rather than articulating the Alliance political
position in favour of voluntary labelling.
The start of health committee hearings formally launched the battle of
the Parliament Hill committees on the GM labelling issue.
The health committee was asked by the government to hold hearings on
the issue. The agriculture committee, fearing a pro-labelling report
from health, launched its own hearings to give the food industry a
forum to argue against the need for and cost of mandatory labelling.
Health committee hearings resume Feb. 18 when Parliament ends a
one-week break.
