Off Our Plates
Consumer GMO Awareness and Education Campaign helping Restaurant, School and Daycare Kitchens remove GMOs
Off Our Plates! is a project of Canadian Organic Growers – Toronto (COGT) to alert consumers to the presence of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in their food and provide them with alternatives.
While biotechnologies have been widely used in the production of our food, applications, such as the use of genetically modified (GM) crops created by inserting genes from other organisms, remain controversial.
GM foods are approved for human consumption based on industry-produced science that is not peer-reviewed and cannot be accessed by the public or independent scientists. Without peer review, the data used to approve products cannot be assumed to be good science, or indeed “science” at all.
“Any politician or scientist who tells you these products are safe is either very stupid or lying. The hazards of these foods are uncertain. In view of our enormous ignorance, the premature application of biotechnology is downright dangerous.”
David Suzuki, quoted in The Globe and Mail, October 20, 1999
Though the impact and long term health consequences on people are little known, the lack of evidence that GM food is unsafe cannot be interpreted as proof that it is safe. One of the few comprehensive studies of the effects of GM foods on mammalian health link three varieties of Monsanto’s GM corn with organ damage. Yet all three varieties were approved for consumption in Canada, the US and Europe.
In 2008, the UN’s IAASTD (International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development) report, which represented a three-year effort by about 400 experts around the world, was highly critical of GM crops. In addition to GM crops being highly contentious, the IAASTD also said they would not play a substantial role in addressing the key problems of climate change, biodiversity loss, hunger and poverty. It called instead for a fundamental change in farming practices.
Based on what we know so far, we encourage you to keep GMOs off your plate!
For more information about the campaign or to be involved:
Tanmayo: tanmayo@idirect.com
Consumer GMO Education and Awareness Campaign: