First, gentlemen, I want to thank all of you for taking time out of your busy schedules to accept the invitation to come and speak before us. We all appreciate that GMO is a tool that's going to be used, one tool of many, to fight growing hunger, feeding three billion more people in the next 40 years--and increasing food production by about 70%, I'm told, will ultimately be the need.
We've heard so much, and there are, as I have described, two solitudes out there. I don't know if these two solitudes can ever reconcile their differences, but without getting into all the incidents today, because it's impossible--Manish, you discussed a number of regulations you thought would be important tricks that can be used to reduce gene flow and look at molecular interactions to avoid toxicity. Rene, you talked about possibly developing not barriers but buffer zones. I gather that's based on what I've read from the Canadian Seed Growers' Association—identity-preserved isolation distances.
Frank, you were in politics. It seems to me you had...not politics as such, but you were a deputy minister, rather. Thank you--I'm sure you're pleased I corrected that. It seems to me—and Derek and Mike—you're in the business. Michael, you understand it historically. It confounds me that it took Bill C-474 to bring this conversation to a crescendo, because Bill C-474, by most of our responses, isn't the answer. It certainly has raised issues that need to be discussed. I'm talking about, for instance, the right of organic growers to be able to grow their crop without threat of contamination. It's not an easy solution, but it's a simple proposition. I'm wondering why, if any of you, or all of you, have the compulsion—because we're not going to be able to do it—to come together, revitalize the Canadian Biotechnology Advisory Committee, bring everyone together, and start having the discussion so we can find these solutions.
Don't rely on us. It's better that the solution comes from the industry. Can you guys address that? Rene, you talked about buffer zones. Is it realistic to introduce that, manage regulations? Frank, you had some ideas. Can we discuss that?