reported as saying, “The last thing we’d like to see is this industry brought down to its knees by the fact we have suddenly an open GM policy. The last thing I want to see is market perception come back and hurt this industry.” Carter refuted the BCFGA resolution, saying it was “fraught with inaccuracies and inconsistencies” and the growers’ reaction was “paranoia and pseudo market science.” He predicted the government would never agree to indemnify growers and urged the BCFGA to postpone its resolution to allow more time to learn about the issue.
“This science is in its infancy. You’re painting yourself into a corner at the beginning of the game,” he said. “This is the
mainstream. The genie is already out of the bottle.” There are more than 20 million acres already planted with GM crops in Canada alone, he said.
being genetically modified, 14 percent of respondents indicated they would purchase without hesitating, 45 percent said it would depend on the type of food being purchased and 35 percent said nothing could convince them to purchase genetically modified food. In response, Carter pointed out that
according to the OSF survey, once consumers were given information about the technology used to create
exporting and the domestic production of fruit and plant material containing genetically engineered DNA and to declare through legislation that B.C. is a GE-free province in respect to all tree fruit products.
The motion also asks the UBCM to forward the motion to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities for similar consideration of legislation by the federal government to establish Canada as a GE-free country with respect to tree fruit products.
Referring to the BCFGA resolution, Lane wrote in his letter to the CFIA: “It should be noted that there was a resolution to table that motion that nearly passed; and that the motion that did pass was approved by about eight delegates out of 25 or so (there were four against, the rest were abstentions). Not a very resounding endorsement of the position, it would seem.”
An eight-acre test block of Arctic apples is being grown in Washington State.
Arctic apples, more than 80 percent said they were interested in non- browning apples.
In May 2012, Sardinha told the Kelowna Daily Courier: “Whether it’s apples, pears or peaches, genetic modification threatens the industry and threatens organic growers as well.” The BCFGA, in partnership with the Quebec Apple Producers’ Association, commissioned a national survey on genetically engineered food products in 2012. The poll asked six questions about genetically engineered food. In response to the question ‘Are you in favour of the approval of this genetically engineered apple by Health Canada?’ 69 percent of respondents were not in favour.
Of the 1,501 respondents in a national survey conducted between June 26 and June 29 by Leger Marketing, 76 percent said the Canadian government has not provided adequate information about genetically modified food. A further nine percent said they had not heard of genetically modified food prior to the survey. If the food were clearly labelled as
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This July, the Apple Working Group of the Canadian Horticultural Council passed a motion calling for a moratorium on review and release of Arctic apples. Also in July, the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network submitted a brief to the CFIA expressing opposition to OSF’s application.
CBAN’s concerns included the areas of gene transformation, gene flow risks, health effects and misleading of consumers. CBAN is a collaboration that began in 1999 when 23 environmental, social justice and consumer groups met in Ottawa to create an informal partnership on the issue of genetic engineering. This summer, B.C. Southern Interior MP Alex Atamanenko voiced growers’ concerns over genetically engineered apples directly to federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz.
A petition with approximately 600 names in support of organic growers was subsequently presented to the board of the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen. The board unanimously passed a motion asking the Union of B.C. Municipalities to call on the provincial government to legislate the prohibition of importing,
British Columbia FRUIT GROWER • Fall 2012
At present there are very few genetically modified whole fruits and vegetables sold in Canada.One, the Hawaiian papaya, was engineered for resistance to a viral disease. In contrast, according to the Greenpeace Canada Shoppers Guide, literally hundreds of processed foods on grocery store shelves contain genetically modified ingredients, primarily from soybean, corn and canola and their
derivatives. These products range from baking supplies, beverages and cereals to soups, pasta sauces and vegetarian alternatives to meat.
OSF has responded to concerns about cross-pollination, as did Lane in his letter to the CFIA.
In the first place, OSF says, apples aren’t “weedy”—they don’t escape orchards to grow ‘wild.’ Second, apple blossoms are pollinated by bees, which stay close to the hive where there is ample food present, such as in an orchard in bloom.
Third, OSF says grower stewardship standards “will further reduce this already low risk by defining buffer distances between Arctic and other apple orchards.
And finally, it says “in the unlikely scenario that cross-pollination did occur, genes from the Arctic Apple parent would be present only in some of the resulting apples’ seeds, not in the fruit’s skin or flesh.”
In his letter to CFIA, Lane wrote that Okanagan Speciality Fruits’ collaboration with mathematical modeling specialists has resulted in the publication of two scientific papers in very high ranking journals that describe in mathematical terms the flow of pollen in bee pollinated plants like apple trees in orchards, in such a way
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