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CFIA President Resigns
The president of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has resigned following media revelations that pesticide and biotechnology industry lobby group CropLife Canada authored a CFIA document that proposes to exempt many new genetically engineered seeds from regulation. In October, the National Farmers Union, CBAN and 13 other groups asked for the president to be replaced. 
This is a major victory in our campaign to secure government oversight and transparency of GMOs in the face of CFIA and Health Canada proposals to allow complete corporate self-regulation.
Read today's letter to the Prime Minister from the National Farmers Union asking for new leadership to protect the public interest: "We urge you to appoint as the next President of the CFIA someone with an unwavering commitment to preventing regulatory capture, who will provide the leadership needed to protect the interests of Canadians, our food and our environment and restore the CFIA’s reputation and credibility."
Take Action
Ask the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food to listen to farmers and consumers, not CropLife.
Individual action: Send your personalized MP your letter today. Just print the seed package letter, add your name and address, write a personal note if you want, and put it n the post – you don’t even need a stamp! You can also click here to send an instant email to the Minister.
Community action: Are you organizing events in February/March, or staffing an information table? CBAN has new postcards for people to sign! Contact us to order a bundle of postcards to collect signatures and mail signed postcards.
Why? Farmers need to know what seeds they are buying. Organic farmers need to know which seeds are genetically modified because organic farming prohibits the use of GM seeds. But the CFIA is proposing to allow companies to sell many new gene-edited GM seeds without any government safety assessments and without notifying farmers, consumers or even the government. The minister recently told reporters that farmers don't need to worry: she said she will make sure farmers have transparency about GM seeds on the market. But so far, there have been no concrete commitments. Ask the minister to take real action now to stop the unknown, unregulated GM seeds.
The Seed Packet message
This is what the Seed Packet says:
STOP UNDISCLOSED GM SEEDS
WARNING: This seed packet could soon be full of undisclosed genetically modified (GM) seeds.
Ensure safety & transparency
www.cban.ca/NoExemptions
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is proposing to exempt some genetically modified (GM or genetically engineered) seeds from regulation. Health Canada says it will not regulate some new GM foods produced with gene editing (those with no foreign DNA).
Please ensure government oversight:
- Don’t let companies sell new seeds without disclosing that they are genetically modified.
- Don’t let companies decide the safety of their own GM seeds & foods, without any government safety checks.
These changes will mean:
- No independent government food safety and environmental assessments of many new genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
- Companies can put new some GM seeds on the market without telling the government, or farmers that the seeds are GM.
- Companies can sell some GM foods without notifying Health Canada.
Why it matters:
- Farmers need to know what seeds they’re buying.
- Organic farmers need to know if seeds have been gene edited because all GMOs are prohibited under the Canada Organic Standards.
- Most Canadians want GMOs labelled.
For more information see www.cban.ca/NoExemptions
The Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN) brings together 16 organizations to research, monitor and raise awareness about issues relating to genetic engineering in food and farming. CBAN members include farmer associations, environmental and social justice organizations, and regional coalitions of grassroots groups. CBAN is a project of MakeWay's shared platform.