Frightening farming
Whatever happened to... Genetically Modified Foods?
BY Lauren McKeon
Remember “Frankenfoods”? Canadian public concern about genetically modified foods peaked with the Percy Schmeiser case in the late ’90s. GM giant Monsanto—which specializes in seed generation—claimed the farmer had breached patent rights by planting its pesticide-proof seeds, Roundup Ready, without buying them from the company. Schmeiser claimed his crops were contaminated by Monsanto seed from a neighbouring farm.
When the Saskatchewan farmer lost the case, he appealed, resulting in a draw in 2004: Schmeiser didn’t have to pay Monsanto, but Monsanto’s patent held. Though the Schmeiser case may be fading from public memory, genetically modified organism (GMO) research didn’t stop when the century switched over.
The resulting so-called “Frankenfoods” involve combining genes from unrelated species of plants, microbes and animals, usually with the intent of producing a more resilient, and in some cases nutritional, product. Canada remains one of the top five producers of GMOs—together with the U.S., Argentina, Brazil and China, it’s responsible for 96 percent of global GM cultivation. The health risks of genetically modified foods have not yet been conclusively demonstrated, but links are being explored between GMOs and increased rates of food allergy, antibiotic resistance, increased toxicity and decreased nutritional value.
However, to pass Canada’s food testing system, a GM product only has to have the same properties as its “real” counterpart. And despite debate over mandatory labelling, food packaging still won’t tell you if you’re consuming GMOs. Most recently, GM crops had been implicated in the case of the world’s disappearing bees, a theory that has now been discredited.
Still, there are hundreds of groups around the world fighting GM foods. Close to home, the Ottawa-based Ban Terminator formed in 2005 in response to the combined push of corporations and the federal government for field-testing of “terminator” technology — seeds that are essentially sterile and will stop farmers from saving GM seeds for replanting. The group is working with farmers to prevent the release of these “suicide seeds” onto the Canadian market.
