Hundreds of farmers in the Prairies and across the country have sent seed packets in the mail to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. CBAN also sent the packet to every Member of Parliament. These seed packets carry a message of warning that allowing the sale of unassessed, undisclosed genetically modified (GM) seeds would threaten the future of organic food and farming.
Farmers need to know what seeds they are buying. Organic farmers need to know which seeds are genetically modified because organic farming prohibits the use of GM seeds. But the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is proposing to allow companies to sell many new gene-edited GM seeds without any government safety assessments and without notifying farmers, consumers or even the government. The minister recently told reporters that farmers don’t need to worry: she said she will make sure farmers have transparency about GM seeds on the market. But so far, there have been no concrete commitments. Ask the minister to take real action now to stop the unknown, unregulated GM seeds.
Print the seed package letter, add your name and address, write a personal note if you want, and put it n the post 鈥� you don’t even need a stamp!
. You can download a letter with a pre-written message or a blank page to write your own letter.
The Seed Packet Message
This is what the Seed Packet says:
STOP UNDISCLOSED GM SEEDS
WARNING: This seed packet could soon be full of undisclosed genetically modified (GM) seeds.
Ensure safety & transparency
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is proposing to exempt some genetically modified (GM or genetically engineered) seeds from regulation. Health Canada says it will not regulate some new GM foods produced with gene editing (those with no foreign DNA).
Please ensure government oversight:
- Don’t let companies sell new seeds without disclosing that they are genetically modified.
- Don’t let companies decide the safety of their own GM seeds & foods, without any government safety checks.
These changes will mean:
- No independent government food safety and environmental assessments of many new genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
- Companies can put new some GM seeds on the market without telling the government, or farmers that the seeds are GM.
- Companies can sell some GM foods without notifying Health Canada.
Why it matters:
- Farmers need to know what seeds they’re buying.
- Organic farmers need to know if seeds have been gene edited because all GMOs are prohibited under the Canada Organic Standards.
- Most Canadians want GMOs labelled.
For more information see