Canadians Kept In Dark , Says Suzuki.By Doug Scmidt
Without proper consumer product labelling, Canadians are being kept in the dark about their potentially dangerous genetically altered foods Dr. David Suzuki told an audience of more than 1500 at Windsor's packed Caboto Hall Thursday night. "This is a massive experiment on Canadians--- we don't know what (genetically modified organisms or GMO's} will do" , he said. He pooh-poohed assurances by politicians, fellow scientists and the biotech industry about health safeguards connected to the new food crops: "If we don't know the effects, how can we regulate it?" Suzuki said, there are still too many questions, even in his own mind: " The potential benefits of GMO's are every bit as speculative as the dangers--- we just don't know" . Meanwhile, he said, Canadians must be allowed to provide "informed consent" by being able to choose whether they want to consume such products. He dismissed the biotech industry "spin" recent media reports that he implied farmers are embracing the new technology are either "very stupid or lying" about its safety.
Not The Farmers' Fault
"It's not the farmers' fault, they're caught in the middle" he told reporters later, adding the growers will end up paying a price for their increasing reliance on more and more chemicals. "there's been a huge backlash in Europe , there's going to be a consumers response in Canada" he predicts. Members of The CAW Local 444 enviromental committee, which organized Thursdays event, the biggest single local green lecture in years, hope it will spark a new wave of local enviromental activism. "Our goal, my hope, here is that we can reach tomorrow's (enviromental) leaders," said committe chairman Rob Spring. Suzuki urged the crowd to change their lifestyle habits and start the new millenium with the newer and more personally empowering enviromental slogan "think locally, act locally".
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Well this is what happened in my hometown Thursday night. I would like to know what foods in specific they are playing with, with our luck it's probably ALL of them.
James...
None.
