Consumers' Association changes course on GM labelling

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The news that the Consumers Association of Canada (CAC ) changed course on GM labelling is notable since this organization has been out of step with Canadians on another important consumer issue since the 1980's - namely food irradiation.

In the eyes of many perceptive Canadians CAC had been co-opted by government grants. It was rumored that at least one influential CAC board member had been wined and dined by Atomic Energy Canada prior to CAC's endorsement of this questionable technology. As a consequence many Canadians thought that CAC had become patsy for the corporate agenda.

It is it any wonder CAC has been reduced to a shell of its former self?

Croft Woodruff

CBC News: Consumers' Association changes course on GM labelling

Consumers' Association changes course on GM labelling
Last Updated Wed, 03 Dec 2003 16:52:25

CALGARY - The Consumers' Association of Canada says Canadians want mandatory labelling of genetically modified foods and that it will ask the federal government to introduce legislation making labelling of genetically modified foods mandatory.

The association says a new poll conducted by Decima Research in October found that 91 per cent of Canadians want food labels to reflect whether the prodct contains genetically modified organisms. MARKETPLACE: GM labelling and the Consumers' Association of Canada

The poll results are similar to the results of a string of polls over the past few years. However, until the CAC released this poll, it had been against mandatory labelling. In March 2002, the organization told CBC-TV's Marketplace that it opposed mandatory labelling because it would not be done correctly.

"It all sounds so wonderfully simple, 'oh, let's label everything.' But most people believe that genetically modified products are in the fruit and vegetable aisle. They're not. They're not single-ingredient products. Most of them are showing up in your cereals, your flours, your cake mixes, your pancake mixes?So labelling is not simple," then CAC vice-president Jenny Hilliard told Marketplace.

This most recent poll surveyed 2,000 people across Canada and is considered accurate with a range of plus or minus two per cent. It found 80 per cent of Canadians do not think the federal government has provided them with adequate information about genetically modified foods. Written by CBC News Online staff

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