Environment committee  All right. We're also concerned by the fact that certain companies are claiming ownership of living beings, whether it be genetically modified animals or plants, such as canola. You know that canola is one of the main crops produced here in Canada, along with wheat. We are seein

Environment committee  Yes, it is essential that ecosystem contamination be taken into account. When we see how Environment Canada authorized AquaBounty to launch production, when we read the report, we see that the persons responsible came to the conclusion that there was little chance that the genet

Environment committee  What you need to know is that Canada was the first country in the world, and is currently one of only two countries, to approve the production and consumption of a genetically modified animal. The United States is the other one. As to determining if Canada is behind or in front

Environment committee  Thank you for the question. Actually, when we're talking about “shifting the onus,” what we are trying to understand is the following: why make a genetically modified version of an organism when that organism already exists in the wild? I've been working on this issue for nearl

Environment committee  I mentioned three ways of doing this. I believe it is essential that first nations be consulted in order to give their free and informed consent. That is really important, especially because we are talking about animal species which are highly symbolic. I am also closely follow

Environment committee  Good afternoon. Let me start up by saying thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak before you today on behalf of Vigilance OGM. We will be concentrating on Part 6 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, or CEPA, which deals about animate products of biotechnology.

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Agriculture committee  [inaudible] materials engineering, and I have a degree in pure and applied chemistry from the University of Glasgow. I'm not an expert in GMOs. I'm sorry if I offended you. I consulted the surveys, and I saw nothing in your riding, which I don't know.

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. MacGregor. I heard your question correctly. I may not have the expertise that Ms. Vandelac has on this issue. All I know is that the Royal Society of Canada, where you bring together your best scientists in one field, already studied the issue of GMOs in 2001 and

Agriculture committee  The primary concern is health, but that doesn't depend solely on plant modification. Currently, after 25 years, 88% of all GMOs on the market worldwide are designed to resist or tolerate a herbicide. The medium- to long-term consequence is that the use of herbicides in these cro

Agriculture committee  I can't tell you if GMOs are good or bad for your health. There is no acute toxicity, otherwise this fact would have been observed. Unfortunately, since traceability can't be tracked, given the impossibility of conducting research, it isn't known whether there is long-term toxici

Agriculture committee  They aren't transparent.

Agriculture committee  No. What I'm saying is that there are fewer and fewer scientists because of the major cuts by the Conservatives, and unfortunately that is having an effect on independent research. One of the fundamental pillars of science is that scientific studies must be transparent and verif

Agriculture committee  No. What I'm saying is that Health Canada has made mistakes before. This has happened in the past and it is still happening today. Many products, such as the pesticide known as DDT and the herbicide Lasso, were approved by many scientists at Health Canada. As a result of subseque

Agriculture committee  We would like a transparent system so that our society is protected from these errors.