Friday, February 4, 2011

Time for a Pig Rally

You heard me: a pig rally. Remember the genetically modified Enviropig™ and its mouse/E.coli genes that help it excrete less phosphorous so that big agribusiness can continue raising pigs in factory farm conditions instead of adopting more ethical and environmentally sound practices? Well, its time is coming, and we need to take action now if we want to stop this GM pork from making it to supermarket shelves.



From The Big Carrot:

The University of Guelph will profit financially from commercializing the hugely controversial GE pig trademarked “Enviropig”. What happens when a public university fights to bring a product to market? The university has requested approval from Health Canada but:
  • There is no transparency in GE regulation and there has never been a democratic public debate.
  • There is no GE food labeling to give consumers a choice.
  • The GE pig could destroy the domestic and global markets for hog farmers, while providing few or no benefits to farmers.
On Wed Feb 9, MPs from the House of Commons Agriculture Committee will visit the University of Guelph to see how they can help “foster an innovative and fertile” biotech industry. At the same time, the House is voting on Bill C-474 which would require an analysis of export market harm before a new GE seed is permitted.
The Big Carrot is inviting everyone to join the pig rally to stop Enviropig™ from gaining Health Canada approval and will be providing free bus transportation between Toronto and Guelph to make it easier for GTA residents to show their support. Please view this flyer for more details. Also, take a look at CBAN's page on Enviropig™ for more background information and other ways to get involved.

I don't know about you, but I like knowing that the food I eat is safe and healthy for me. We don't know that with certainty about Enviropig™.

Photo credit.

3 comments:

  1. I hope that it isn't approved but if it is I guess I will be buying all of my pork from local farmers at the farm gate, through farmers markets and through local businesses that focus on locally raised and grown food. I'm glad that we have the Local Flavours program (www.localflavours.org) through the local Biosphere reserve (www.fabr.ca).

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  2. Local Flavours would be so useful to have in other parts of the province!

    I guess one thing to be thankful for is the fact that unlike GE alfalfa (which will cross-pollinate with non-GE alfalfa until eventually there is no organic alfalfa left in North America), GE pigs will only ever be allowed to breed with other GE pigs, saving the non-engineered variety for people like us. I hope I'm right about this.

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  3. THIS NEWS IS JUST BREAKING - an open letter to the USDA has been just made public by COL (Ret.) Don M. Huber, Emeritus Professor, Purdue University title: Glyphosate Roundup or Round Up Ready Crops May Cause Animal Miscarriages - and the revelation is shocking .THIS IS WHY RONNIE CUMMINS of the ORGANIC CONSUMERS ASSOCIATION IS 100% CORRECT IN HIS ABSOLUTIST STAND - Read the letter here: http://daiasolgaia.com/?p=2736
    Ravi Wells
    DaiaSolGaia
    Discoveries for a Full LIfe

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