OTTAWA – A British Columbia Reform MP last week cited food biotechnology skepticism as a reason to oppose government plans for a new food inspection agency.
Daphne Jennings said she is uneasy that genetically altered foods and novel foods are being prepared for the market with little control or consumer knowledge.
She suggested the new agency should have some role in controlling the proliferation of new foods.
“We are not using any controls,” she told the House of Commons. “Food inspection has to deal with all aspects of food.”
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Jennings was one of the few Reform MPs to oppose registration of bovine somatotropin two years ago.
Her biotech skepticism runs counter to the official Reform policy that biotech product assessment and licensing should be science-based, without special tests because it is genetically altered.
But the MP said the new agency also should look at “risk management” in the genetically altered foods sector.
“Because of the fast-moving changes already occurring in our food chain with plants and animals, should there not be a control factor somewhere in the agency’s framework?”
The food industry has been arguing that new products should be judged on traditional tests including safety and efficacy.
