BRITISH COLUMBIA - In the wake of the avian flu, the BSE crisis, and the growing number of genetically engineered foods hitting grocery stores, communities in BC are mobilizing to fight for their food safety.

During the week of September 20, two Council of Canadians campaigners will be in BC to meet with local safe food activists, organic and small-scale farmers and Council of Canadians members to talk about factory farming and safe food/food safety issues in the province.

Cathy Holtslander of the Beyond Factory Farming Coalition (Saskatoon) and Nadège Adam, Council of Canadians Biotech Campaigner (Ottawa), will travel throughout southern BC to speak to communities about these issues and to hear from local activists about the issues that interest or concern them.

“When we look at BSE, Avian flu, meat recalls due to e-coli contamination and outbreaks of anti-biotic resistant infections in hospitals, there is a common denominator – factory farming. Increasing industrialization of food production is creating increasingly serious and widespread problems for health, the environment, farmers and rural communities,” says Holtslander. “We need to pay attention, understand what is going on and then work together to create a better food system that supports health and sustainability.”

“Canadians are eating food that contains genetically engineered (GE) ingredients without even realizing it. An increasing number of products we eat contain GE ingredients, and yet scientists still have no idea exactly what effect these foods will have on our health or our environment in the future,” says Adam. “British Columbians are setting the pace for the rest of Canada in mobilizing to make their communities GE-free areas and to fight the genetic engineering of our food.”

The tour is being hosted by Council of Canadians chapter activists who formed a BC-Yukon Chapter Safe Food Network to work together on these issues in their communities.

Tour dates: Kamloops: September 19, 7 pm, The Smorgasbord Deli (Cathy Holtslander)
Powell River: September 20, 7pm Unitarian Hall (Nadege Adam); September 22, 7 pm, Unitarian Hall (Cathy Holtslander)
New Westminster: September 21, 7pm Canadian Autoworkers Hall (Both)
Courtney: September 23, 7:30 pm, Florence Filberg Centre Rotary Hall (Cathy Holtslander)

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