It’s been 15 years since we began widespread planting of
genetically-modified crops and they continue to gain popularity with farmers
around the world.
Last year about 160 million hectares were planted to
varieties whose genes had been somehow altered by the new technologies. That
was eight per cent more than the year before.
In all of that 15 years, I have yet to see any documented
proof that a single person has been harmed by consuming food prepared from a
genetically-modified crop.
I have yet to see documented evidence that any harm has come
to the environment.
I have seen evidence, and plenty of it, that production
costs have declined, that pesticide use for crops such as cotton has declined
significantly and that the profits for farmers have improved, including some of
the world’s poorest farmers in countries such as China and India.
So with this track record of costs and benefits, why is the
Canadian government continuing to insist on expensive and lengthy research and
trials to justify approvals for new genetically-modified varieties?
Do we not know enough about standard genetic technologies
being employed in varietal development to grant carte-blanche approvals for the
next generation of varieties employing these standard technologies.
Would not the time, effort and expense involved in meeting
current GMO clearances not be better invested in addressing some of the well-known
high-risk products, such as raw sprouts?
And in another related vein, why is our government granting patents
related to plant breeding?
Patent protection, we were told, would bring more money into
research and development and both speed up the delivery of improved varieties
and increase the number brought to market. Can you see any evidence of that
happening?
In fact, we have fewer plant breeders today than 20 years
ago, we have fewer new varieties coming to market and we don’t even have the
university resources left to teach a new generation of plant breeders.
One Canadian innovation alone – canola – justifies every
penny that has ever been spent by Canadian governments on plant breeding at
public institutions. It came to market before GMO regulations and before
government-funded plant breeding budgets were slashed to ribbons.
Do you think corporations would have ever bred canola and
brought it to market?
Relaxing regulations governing genetically-modified crops
and combining that with an offer of personal profits from the sale of improved
varieties to plant breeders working at universities and government agriculture
institutions might actually yield some tangible benefits for farmers and
society.
