MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 2, 2005

NATIONAL FOOD FIGHT LAUNCHED TO STOP GENETICALLY ENGINEERED CROPS

VANCOUVER – Canadians are joining regions, communities and countries around the world in declaring their communities GE-Free Zones.

Launched today, the GE-Free Canada campaign is a nation-wide, grass-roots effort by farmers, environmentalists, and ordinary Canadians concerned with issues of food safety and food sovereignty.

Community by community, citizens are banding together to create a web of zones across Canada that are free of genetically engineered (GE) plants, animals, crops and trees. The campaign’s goal is to have 50 communities in Canada declare themselves GE-Free in the next two years.

Saskatchewan farmer and world-renowned food sovereignty activist Percy Schmeiser will kick off the campaign at a public event in Vancouver tonight.

“For years I have fought for farmers’ rights to decide what we grow and how we grow it. GE-Free Zones extend that principle to the entire community,” says Schmeiser. “This movement is about long-term economic sustainability, local control over food production, a healthy environment and democracy as opposed to food profiteering and the destruction of our genetic biodiversity through corporate control of seeds and agriculture.”

The GE-Free movement already has incredible momentum in Canada. Salt Spring Island, BC and Powell River, BC have passed municipal resolutions declaring themselves GE-Free Crop Areas. Prince Edward Island is currently holding legislative committee hearings to decide whether to make the province GE-Free. Numerous communities across the prairies have passed municipal resolutions banning GE wheat.

“Currently, biotech giants such as Monsanto Canada aren’t held accountable when their GE seeds contaminate a farmer’s fields. Farmers, on the other hand, are forced to pay up to the corporation or lose their farms,” says Tara Scurr of the Council of Canadians. “With the attempted introduction of untested GE crops, terminator and predator seeds, keeping food safe and in the control of local communities is a battle we cannot afford to lose.”

Communities in Europe, Asia, and the United States have banded together to fight GE products at local and national levels. Over 100 regions of Europe and 3400 local authorities have told biotech companies that their genetically engineered crops are not welcome.

"As community activists working to promote a democratic food system, our chapter feels that this is a real opportunity to engage our community around ethical consuming and to support sustainable local farming practices. It's a question of 'eat local, think global.' Right now food is controlled by large corporations with a global reach and an absence of ethics, not by local farmers and consumers. And that's scary." says Tony Beck of the Council of Canadians Vancouver North Shore Chapter.

Canadians want a moratorium on the planting and harvesting of genetically engineered crops, plants, trees, and animals until the public is satisfied that they do not threaten human health or Canada’s genetic biodiversity.

The GE-Free Canada campaign will be launched tonight at a public forum in Vancouver at the Maritime Labour Centre. Doors open at 6:30 pm, and admission is free.

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