I am not a member of the Yukon Agricultural Association or a farmer, but I am a consumer and have been reading the letters from both farmers and business regarding the issue of allowing genetically modified seed into the Yukon.
I was particularly interested to read the letter from Lorne Hepworth, the president of CropLife, Canada, in which he brags about how great genetically modified food is for the world and how it has been approved under the Canadian Food Inspection Agency as safe.
We should all remember that in 2004 Health Canada fired a number of scientists who refused to approve the use of the genetically modified cow growth hormone (rBGH) because their research indicated it causes cancer in humans.
Hepworth is referring to the same federal government that refuses to implement proper labelling legislation so we know what is actually in our food (and other products) and won’t even enforce the lame laws currently in place. It is also this same government that refuses to acknowledge that pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers are poisoning our soil and water and causing serious illnesses.
Maybe it’s because we live a little “closer to the land” in the Yukon than in other parts of Canada, but many people I know here pay attention to how and where their food is grown and will pay more to support local producers whenever possible.
I believe Barb Drury and Tom Rudge have the support of many Yukoners in their quest to keep our locally grown food as pure and untampered with as possible, and if the Yukon Agricultural Association and the Yukon government really care about the health of Yukon residents they will do all they can to make sure that happens.
Inviting Monsanto into the Yukon could be compared to selling our mines to China à all in the name of profit.
Is that what we really want?
Jocelyn Laveck
Whitehorse