Debate: Should Canada label GMO foods?
Updated: Mar. 29, 2016
Do you think you have a right to know what’s in the food you eat? If so, you might want
Do you think you have a right to know what’s in the food you eat?
If so, you might want to move to one of the 61 other countries in which labelling of genetically modified food is mandatory.
Or, you could move to California, where Proposition 37, the initiative for labeling of genetically modified food, was recently endorsed by the Los Angeles City Council.
In Canada, most of our wheat, soy, canola oil and corn is genetically modified’in fact, Canada is the third largest producer of genetically modified organisms in the world, according to Environment Canada.
Polls have shown that Canadians want GMO foods to be labeled’but there is no mandate requiring it.
According to Health Canada, labels are only mandatory if ‘there is a health or safety issue with a food.’
Well, according to the first ever long-term GMO study, there is.
The study, published in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicity in September, found that rats fed Roundup-resistant genetically modified corn died 2-3 times more often, and faster. They were also more likely to have mammary tumors and organ damage.
Those stats should not be ignored.
At the very least, we should be able to decide for ourselves whether or not we want to take the risk.
What do you think? Should Canada follow in the footsteps of California, and make labeling genetically modified foods mandatory? Or should we go a step further, like many European and Asian countries, and ban GMOs?
Related:
‘ What product labels really mean
‘ Produce with the highest pesticide levels
‘ 5 foods worth buying organic
