MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 17, 2001

Mandatory labelling bill defeated: Cabinet strong-arms Liberal MP's
Council of Canadians vows to keep up the pressure

Ottawa - In a vote of 91 to 126, members of parliament voted down a bill that would have required mandatory labelling of genetically engineered (GE) foods, despite massive public support for such measures. The defeat of the bill, initiated last year by Liberal MP Charles Caccia, came despite statements from the Health Minister last week that he is in favour of mandatory labelling.

"The Liberal government clearly believes that the interest of corporations takes precedent over that of 95% of Canadians. They have left the decision on what we eat, and what we have the right to know, to the biotech and food industries and not with consumers."

Days before the vote Ministers Rock, Van Clief, Tobin and Pettigrew sent a letter to government MP's outlining their plan to address public concern with GE foods. The letter made no mention of the bill, implying their desire to defeat Bill C-287.

"We are disappointed, but not surprised," affirms Nadège Adam, Biotechnology Campaigner for the Council of Canadians, "We've always known that we were fighting against political machine with a serious bias in favour of the biotech sector."

Though the bill had received an unprecedented 95% support among Canadians, the Liberals have systematically refused efforts to implement mandatory labelling.

"If the Ministers think they've defused the issue, they're quite mistaken," says Adam. "In response to public demand, we will be publishing the voting record on our website. Concerned citizens will be holding their MP's to account, and their frustration will be channeled into tremendous pressure on the Health Committee to produce strong mandatory labelling rules."

"We hope the Health Committee will keep in mind that they work for Canadians, in particular the 95% of Canadians in favour of labelling -- not for Cabinet or for the biotech industry. It's tragic that the Cabinet has lost sight of this."

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