Québec, QUÉBEC – A country–wide campaign involving the mailing of slices of bread to Prime Minister Paul Martin’s office began today.

The Council of Canadians and Friends of the Earth Quebec are re-launching the quirky but effective “Mail your slice of bread” campaign.

“There was such a strong response from Canadians the first time we did this that we felt we needed to reintroduce the idea, this time sending our bread directly to the Prime Minister’s Office,” says Nadège Adam of the Council of Canadians. “This is a warning to Martin as he plans for an election.”

Ottawa is currently considering introducing the controversial genetically engineered (GE) wheat. The Council of Canadians and Friends of the Earth Québec are asking bread lovers to show their opposition by mailing a slice to Paul Martin. Events are being held in bakeries and grocery stores across the country.

“Quebecers couldn’t be more clear about their opposition to GE wheat,” says André Naud of Friends of the Earth – Estrie. “There’s been no long-term testing to ensure that these products won’t be harmful to our health and environment. Yet Ottawa is still considering going ahead with this ridiculous idea.”

A recent Ipsos-Reid poll sponsored by the Council of Canadians revealed that 83% of Canadians would like to see a moratorium imposed on any further releases of genetically-modified crops until more health and environmental safety issues have been addressed.1

“Given those numbers, it is simply unacceptable that Martin would even consider allowing the genetic engineering of our wheat,” adds Adam.

Fifteen communities around the country are participating in the “Mail your slice of bread” campaign. Concerned citizens are joining hands with bakeries and grocery stores in distributing bread and envelopes to all who care about this issue. Canadians are encouraged to continue the campaign until the government agrees to ban GE Wheat in Canada.

“We’re hoping that a huge pile of bread sitting in his office will finally force Martin to act in accordance with the will of the public on this issue,” says Anne-Marie Turmel of Friends of the Earth of Quebec. “The government must not introduce GE wheat in Canada.”

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1These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid/Council of Canadians poll conducted from March 30th to April 1st 2004. For the telephone survey, a representative randomly selected sample of 1000 adult Canadians was interviewed by telephone. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within ± 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 2001 Census data.

Please visit www.ipsos-reid.com to view the survey findings.