Dear editor,
After reading the story about GM crops, I would like to set the record straight on a couple of points.
Ms. Hamir and I have had significant contact as I was also involved in the Richmond City Council debate on GM crops.
Ms. Hamir continues to state false information.
The so-called French research was completely dismissed by every food safety authority, including Health Canada (www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/gmf-agm/seralini-eng.php ) that examined it. That was the third time this anti-GM activist group has been caught pushing pseudo-science designed to scare the public.
As for organic and GM crops not co-existing, again that is false.
First the certification of organic products is based on the production method not the the purity of the end product. There is no threshold for trace amounts of GM content on organic products.
The proof of co-existence is in 16 years of both GM and organic agriculture without a single case of decertification of an organic farm for trace amounts of GM.
Ms. Hamir knows this, as she heard the spokesperson for an organic food company admit such to the Richmond City Council.
The real tragedy of Richmond was how the fear of GM took over and the facts became unimportant to the councillors.
When public policy is based on false information, we get bad public policy.
Robert Wager,
Nanaimo
Editor's note: Arzeena Hamir is a professional agrologist who specializes in organic food production. She lives in the Comox Valley.