Show Transcript Deconstructing Dinner Kootenay Co-op Radio CJLY Nelson, B.C. Canada April 20, 2006 Title: GE Free Canada Producer / Host: Jon Steinman Transcript: Ruth Taylor Jon Steinman: And welcome to Deconstructing Dinner – produced and recorded in the studios of Kootenay Co-op Radio in Nelson, British Columbia. I’m Jon Steinman. Deconstructing Dinner is a weekly one-hour program that aims to discuss all there is to know about our food, but most importantly, how the food choices we make impact ourselves, our communities and the planet. On the surface, it may appear rather easy to walk into a grocery store or a restaurant, place an item into the shopping cart or select an appetizer off of a menu, but the second any of us choose to begin reading a label or asking a waiter or waitress a question about the origins of a menu item, this daily routine of making food choices becomes much more complicated. A level of complication that is very unique to North Americans, because as is the case throughout many cultures around the globe, food is inextricably linked to culture, where food choices do not require many questions, as these traditions and processes have been unchanged for generations. Here in North America on the other hand, the origin of many of our foods is unknown – where and how was it grown, who grew it, what was the cow fed and how was it treated, what is soy lecithin that seems to be in almost every packaged food we buy. The more we question, the more complicated it all becomes. One of the more recent experiments to hit grocery store shelves and restaurant menus is the prevalence of genetically-modified foods – an experiment that labels on food do not indicate is being administered to the unknowing consumer – you and I. And so on today’s program we will hear speeches from three individuals who have all become involved in one way or another with genetically modified foods. We will hear Arran Stephens – the founder and president of Richmond-based Nature’s Path Foods, Percy Schmeiser – the Saskatchewan farmer who is now in his second legal battle with agri-food giant Monsanto, and Colin Palmer – the chair of the Powell River regional district. increase music and fade out Genetically modified plants destined for food have only been approved here in Canada since 1994 and there are now over 70 approved genetically modified plant varieties being grown here in this country. Now for the most part, a browse through the produce section would not yield many modified fruits and vegetables; the most widely modified varieties of plants are crops – the staple ingredients in the majority of our food. In the United States for example, about half of the corn planted is already genetically modified, about three quarters of cotton is genetically modified, and almost all soybean crops are genetically modified. Now it is these among other ingredients that make their way into processed foods. It is estimated that between 70-80% of all processed foods in grocery stores contain some genetically modified ingredients, but there has not yet been regulations passed that would see mandatory labeling of these ingredients. This in itself will be a topic for a future broadcast. But this topic of genetic modification of our food supply has of course led to heated debate since these plants were first approved, and the ways in which a one-hour radio broadcast could touch on this topic are countless. But regardless of what side you choose to take on the issue, there is one certainty that any science used to promote the increasing prevalence of genetically modified organisms, is just as much at risk of being proved a mistake, no differently than the countless scientific theories that have also met such a fate. Here in Canada, our federal government is responsible for approving such varieties of plants, and in granting such approval, our government places genetically modified plants for food into a category known as “novel foods.” And just when you would like to think our own government would be 100% behind allowing such an experiment to take place, they define the novel foods category as including, and I quote, “food products with no history of safe use as a food.” The question then becomes, have Canadians ever been asked if we want an increasing percentage of our food falling into such a category that is deemed to have no history of safe use. soundbite So in presenting today’s topic of genetically modified foods, we will be hearing a selection of speeches recorded in June of 2005. These speakers were recorded in Vancouver during the launch of the GE-Free Canada campaign – a campaign that aims to see GE-Free zones created across the country – GE-Free indicating areas that ban any genetically engineered plants from making their way into the ground. Finishing off today’s broadcast we will hear from Colin Palmer, who represents the region of Powell River which is one of Canada’s first communities to become GE-Free. The second speaker to be heard on the broadcast will be Percy Schmeiser – the renowned Saskatchewan farmer who was taken to court by the agriculture industry’s most influential company – Monsanto. Schmeiser’s crop of non-genetically modified canola was through open pollination, contaminated in 1997 by a neighboring field of GM Canola, and Monsanto sued Schmeiser for illegally planting the company’s property. But first we will hear the speech given by Arran Stephens. Arran is the founder and president of Nature’s Path Foods – a large Richmond, BC based company that produces a line of organic foods, he is an internationally-published author and he also sits on the Vancouver Food Policy Council. Again this recording is courtesy of the Necessary Voices Society, and here’s Arran Stephens speaking on genetically modified foods. Arran Stephens: About three weeks ago. I’m not sure the exact time. There was an all party candidate meeting in Kitsilano. The green party was there, the NDP was there and the liberals were there, and no work party and a couple of others. Anyway it was a very interesting get together it was pretty charged and partisan but the question that I had to ask of the candidates was what is your position on making British Columbia a GE free zone? The NDP candidate said we support mandatory labeling of genetically engineered food we would like to see by 2010 that British Columbia would be a GE free zone and the Green Party candidate said we’ve always been for making Canada a GE free zone and particularly British Columbia and if we are elected, unfortunately they didn’t make it, we would make BC a GE free zone immediately. And the Liberal candidate mentioned that it’s got to be science based and we have to study this matter further, basically really didn’t answer directly. So, I was a little disappointed in their answer and so I’m sending them a copy, Gordon Campbell and the other person who got elected in our riding, a book called Seeds of Deception so they can understand the question a little more clearly about the risks and dangers of genetically engineered food. I don’t consider myself political, that is partisan. I like to kind of keep middle of the road but I would support any good person with a good idea at any time any place. I think because human beings have such poor judgment we get ourselves time and time again into a corner environmentally and ecologically that we’re putting the planet at risk, we’re putting the future of our society at risk and we’re putting the future generations at risk. So since sometimes the wisdoms of humans doesn’t prevail in large scale, I think sometimes we need to look at the animal kingdom to learn some lessons. I’d like to share a very brief story about the wisdom of squirrels, elk, deer, raccoons and mice. For years a retired Iowa farmer fed squirrels on his farm through the winter months by placing corn cobs and feeders. One year just for the heck of it he decided to see if the squirrels had a preference for BT corn or natural corn. He put natural corn in one feeder and BT corn in another about 20 feet away. The squirrels ate all the corn off the natural cobs but didn’t touch the BT corn. The farmer dutifully refilled the feeder with more natural corn and sure enough it was soon gone. The BT corn however remained untouched. BT corn is a corn that has been gene spliced with a pesticide, a naturally occurring pesticide, but in its unnatural form of course it has questionable results. The retired farmer got curious what if the BT variety was the squirrels only choice to find out he didn’t refill the natural corn. At the time Iowa plunged into the coldest days of winter but day after day the BT corn cob remained intact, the squirrels went elsewhere for their food. After about ten days the squirrels ate about an inch of the tip of an ear but that’s all. The farmer felt sorry for the squirrels and put natural corn back into the feeders which the squirrels once again consumed. Now this is another story about an elk. Captive elk escaped and took up residence in our crops of organic corn and soy. It had total access to neighbouring fields of GM crops but they never went into them - Susan and Mark Fitzgerald of Minnesota.