The Quebec government will use the next year preparing arguments to try to convince other Canadian governments that mandatory labelling for food products containing genetically modified material should be the law in Canada.
“The Quebec government considers that it (mandatory labelling) is necessary and the right thing to do,” said Quebec agriculture ministry official Claude Gregoire in a July 15 interview from Quebec City. “Quebec would like to see other governments adopt this position as well. It is what the minister said when he met other ministers.”
At the Alberta meeting of federal and provincial agriculture ministers July 6-8, Quebec minister Yvon Vallieres made a presentation that proposed ministers develop a process to deal with issues surrounding genetically modified organisms, such as potential uses and benefits, dangers, public unease and demands for labelling.
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His proposals will be fleshed out in a report expected to be completed within several months.
The other ministers, many of whom oppose the idea of mandatory labelling, agreed to add to their final communiqué a recognition of “the need to continue the discussion on GMOs and have requested a status report on the issues related to this matter for the next annual conference.”
In a presentation to the ministers’ conference, Vallieres said that while there are benefits to GMOs including reduced pesticide use, industrial products, food quality improvements and increased yields, there are also potential risks and public unease that governments must acknowledge.
He said there is an environmental risk of unwanted “gene dispersal” and a health worry about unknown risks after long-term consumption. Mainly, he argued that governments should guarantee consumers the choice of buying GMO products or not through label identification.
While the federal government and much of the industry insists the current voluntary labelling rule is appropriate because GMO identification is a marketing issue rather than a health issue, the Quebec Liberal government and the federal Bloc Québecois argue it is consumer choice.
By a wider margin than elsewhere in Canada, Quebec consumers say they support mandatory labelling.
