Sunday, October 9, 2016

Canadians favour GMO labelling

A survey by The Stategic Counsel has found that 78 per cent of Canadians favour mandatory labelling of food that includes ingredients from genetically-modified organisms (GMO).

But the survey also found that most Canadians don’t know what GMO means.

It appears that much of the opposition is to additives, hormones used to promote meat production and large-scale livestock and poultry barns.

The federal government has so far refused to make GMO labelling mandatory because it is meaningless in terms of public health, nutrition and the environment.

All of those issues are thoroughly investigated before Health Canada and Agriculture Canada sign off on the growth and marketing of GMO foods.

It was Health Canada that hired the Strategic Counsel to conduct the survey.

It apparently didn’t bother to ask Canadian opinions about insulin produced by genetically-modified bacteria.

Nor did it ask how much extra Canadians are willing to pay for GMO labelling. There will be a cost for food-preparation companies, distributors and retailers, including restaurants, to determine whether ingredients have been derived from GM crops, such as corn and soybeans, and then develop labels.

For example, would the labels have to declare which of the many ingredients in some food products, such as frozen pizzas, are from GM crops?


Whatever the science and emotion involved, this new survey is sure to touch off renewed discussion about mandatory GMO labelling.