Mr. Speaker, I would like to present two petitions from people in the Peterborough area concerned about the genetic engineering of food and seeds. I will present them both together. They have similar concerns but different recommendations.
Both petitions point out that the genetic engineering of food, plants and animals is still relatively new but it is expanding at an extraordinary rate. It now involves the manipulation of the most basic building blocks of life and requires such a high level of science and technology that it places food and seeds in the hands of large corporations.
One of the petitions calls upon parliament to conduct a public overhaul of Canada's food product testing system with genetically engineered foods specifically in mind.
The other petition with the same concerns calls upon parliament to direct the Government of Canada, alone and in conjunction with other countries, to initiate powerful long term studies of the health and environmental effects of the genetic engineering of plants and animals.