The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) claims to have drawn up its own discussion paper on the supervision of a new generation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), although the name of a leader of a agrochemical lobby appears as “author” in the metadata of the file.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
“The CFIA drafted the document in question,” writes the federal agency in a written statement it sent to us.
Monday, Radio-Canada revealed that Word documents distributed under embargo by the CFIA to various officials and stakeholders in the agricultural world were authored by Jennifer Hubert, Executive Director of CropLife Canada. This lobby defends the interests of the seed, pesticide and fertilizer industry.
SCREENSHOT THE PRESS
Jennifer Hubert’s name appears as “author” in the file’s metadata.
Marked “draft for discussion purposes”, the document that The Press got introduces a new “key guideline” to interpret the Seeds Regulations. This reform proposes to exempt plants resulting from “gene editing” from the obligation to be evaluated by the government before being introduced into the Canadian environment, as has been required for new GMO plants for years. 1990.
There are no gene-edited plants grown in the Canadian agricultural system yet. This new technology makes it possible to modify the existing DNA sequence of plants without inserting foreign genes, as is the case with so-called traditional GMOs.
electronic table tennis
As part of a consultation process, the CFIA says it drafted the initial version of the document in May. It would have served as a springboard for discussions with “key stakeholders” in the summer of 2020, including CropLife Canada.
The CFIA elaborated on its responses to these comments in one of the returned copies. The revised document was then shared with a wider stakeholder group for further feedback. This is why the metadata indicates that Jennifer Hubert is an “author” of this document, despite the fact that the content it contains comes from the CFIA.
The CFIA, in its statement
CropLife Canada President and CEO Pierre Petelle also denied the allegation.
“They think they found smoke, but there’s no fire here. We comment on documents and that’s normal, like the other speakers. The fact that she became the author is a Microsoft Word software problem. This is in no way attributable to the fact that we had a kind of role in creating the document,” he said.
” Hard to believe ”
The environmental group Vigilance OGM, which received the working document under embargo, said it was not convinced by the CFIA’s explanations. “Hard to believe,” summed up the group’s coordinator, Thibault Rehn.
Rather, he believes the situation illustrates the government’s habit of working hand-in-hand with the pesticide and GMO industry to the detriment of farmers, the environment and people.
I am not making anything up by saying that 100% of all genetically modified seeds in Canada are tolerant to at least one or two herbicides. There is nothing on the market to save the world or feed more people when you face droughts; 99.9% of all GMOs are made to tolerate herbicides. GMOs, in the end, are made to feed livestock and cars.
Thibault Rehn, coordinator of the environmental group Vigilance OGM
The Bloc Québécois agriculture critic, Yves Perron, also reacted Monday by questioning the autonomy of the CFIA.
“It raises important doubts, we are not able to say anything, on the other hand, it is very worrying. »
The latter recalled that in Quebec, the federal approach had provoked an outcry from the entire agricultural world. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has also written to the head of the CFIA to ask her to reconsider her reform, because it could compromise organic certification standards.
“All we are asking for is labeling of seeds resulting from genome editing,” says Christian Legault, head of regulatory monitoring at the Filière Biologique du Québec.
Ottawa is currently proposing the establishment of a “voluntary transparency” mechanism for the industry.
“It is part of the laws and regulations in Canada. It’s written in black and white. Gene editing products are prohibited for any certified organic product,” says Mr. Legault. “We are not against technological innovation. However […] what we are seeing is that we have just degenerated the business environment favorable to organic farming in Quebec, which is in full growth. »
“Are we going to let the private sector regulate itself? It has never been a good idea in history,” adds Mr. Perron. “It’s a big mistake to make it voluntary. »