Agriculture committee  Actually, the perception is that consumers get products that may be genetically modified.

Agriculture committee  Are you talking about Canada?

Agriculture committee  It is Health Canada.

Agriculture committee  At present, labelling GMOs in Canada is voluntary. It is really not mandatory. I want Option Consommateurs' position to be very clear here: we are neither for nor against GMOs. In some cases, we might say they can have some beneficial effects for agriculture, and so on, but we a

Agriculture committee  There is a process that the industry has to go through to get its products approved.

Agriculture committee  I guess Health Canada scientists do it.

Agriculture committee  François is in a better position to answer your question than I am.

Agriculture committee  No.

Agriculture committee  It is true that the government must ensure the safety of its citizens, but it also has to respect one of the major rights of consumers, the right to have the information necessary to make informed choices.

Agriculture committee  The important thing to understand, I feel, is that, if a company wants to label its products, it has to comply with the voluntary code. But the fact is that it is not required to label them. That is where the difference lies, in our opinion.

Agriculture committee  Clearly, we are advocating the precautionary principle in Canada. In the case you mention, it was not applied. With GMOs, there are certainly economic and political issues, but, at the end of the day, the most important thing is to find out the effects on human and animal health.

Agriculture committee  I will be very honest with you. At Option Consommateurs, we do not claim to be experts in GMOs. However, I feel that what is important for earning the trust of the public, of our fellow citizens, is for the process to be as transparent as possible. In Canada, we can commit to be

Agriculture committee  Unfortunately, our experience with voluntary codes is not a happy one. In the financial services area, for example, there are a number of voluntary codes. Unfortunately, voluntary codes are, as their name implies, voluntary. They include little or nothing in the way of enforcemen

Agriculture committee  In light of our research, we respectfully submit three recommendations. I will briefly conclude with them. First, Option Consommateurs recommends the adoption of the precautionary principle in relation to genetically modified organisms for which conditions of application are cle

Agriculture committee  We will try to do it in seven minutes.