GMO Bites: January 2015

Looking forward, looking back

by Lucy Sharratt

• As we look back on last year, we thank everyone for all your action and support.

In 2014, we continued to hold back genetically modified alfalfa and even started removing GM sweet corn from stores in Canada. In fact, the grocery chain Metro says, “We are writing a letter to all our suppliers asking for a formal commitment to not sell us GM corn.” That’s a translation from a French news report on the sweet corn testing that CBAN and Vigilance OGM did this year. We tested 137 samples across the country and only found one GM sweet corn – in a Metro store in Quebec. The French story is here: http://www.laterre.ca/cultures/mais-sucre-un-test-positif-aux-ogm/ We will need to continue our pressure in 2015. For more information and action, see www.cban.ca/corn

Holiday action

BC residents! Your government promised to review the impacts of the GM “non-browning” apple. Sign the petition to get provincial action to stop the GM apple. https://www.change.org/p/norm-letnick-review-the-possible-effects-of-the-gm-apple-on-the-bc-apple-industry

Monsanto paid its CEO $13.4 million in 2014. Donate to CBAN and your charitable gift will be doubled, up to $5,000, thanks to one generous person. CBAN can accomplish so much with your action and support and with way less than $13.4 million. Donate today at http://www.cban.ca/donate

Feeding the world without GM crops

Biotechnology companies continue to sell GM as a solution to world hunger, but here is a bit of what is happening around the world:

Over 100 groups in Africa are opposing the GM “super banana” funded by the Gates Foundation. In a press release, Bridget Mugambe from Uganda, with the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, said, “Just because the GM banana has been developed in Australia and is being tested in the US does not make it super. Ugandans know what is super because we have been eating homegrown GM-free bananas for centuries. This GM Banana is an insult to our food, to our culture, to us a nation, and we strongly condemn it.” Read the full statement opposing the US human feeding trials of the GM banana at http://afsafrica.org/afsa-open-letter-opposing-human-feeding-trials-involving-gm-banana/

Farmers in the Philippines continue to protest GM vitamin A “Golden Rice.” “Genetically modified rice will not address the lack of vitamin A as there are already many other sources of this nutrient. It will worsen hunger. It will also kill diversification and contaminate other crops.” http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/11/filipino-farmers-protest-government-research-on-genetically-modified-rice/ For details on “Golden Rice,” check CBAN’s factsheet http://www.cban.ca/content/view/full/1895

A recent opinion piece in The Western Producer newspaper argues that GM rice would not address poverty and lack of biodiversity: “The more relevant cause of malnutrition is the loss of agricultural and ecosystem biodiversity. This results from the increasing dominance of large-scale monoculture agriculture and from the widespread use of herbicides, which kill everything else, including nutritious weeds.” http://www.producer.com/2014/12/gm-rice-doesnt-address-poverty-lack-of-biodiversity/

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Lucy Sharratt is the coordinator at Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN). www.cban.ca

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