That disagreement rose to a fever pitch last April when Health Canada declared gene-edited crops and precision breeding tools safe and launched a public consultation process with Canadians. Results from the consultation are expected soon.
A coalition of 16 groups, known as the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network, is using every angle it can find to block gene-edited crops from being developed and used in Canada. It publicized its position last week but few of its arguments have anything to do with science or safety.
For non-scientists and those without true consideration for scientific outcomes, getting what they want is more important than the world getting what it needs.
Agriculture is a world of continuous change, mostly for the better. With the first crosses of wild Einkorn wheat several thousand years ago, farmers began plant breeding. They didn’t know the plant they were developing would become modern wheat nor did they imagine that someday scientists would, through further breeding, add traits to make it more efficient, nutritious and reliable.
They did know that as they crossed other grasses and wheat mutations, they could make the grain easier to separate from the hulls and keep the heads on in the first place. Those traits made the farmers of 9,000 years ago more sustainable. They saw potential in these crosses, intentionally derived or not, and kept developing the crop because it fed them better with less work. This eventually allowed for surpluses they could trade for goods and services.
Farmers, and the people who work for them, have been selecting mutations, breeding crops and trading seed ever since. And they’ve helped feed ever-greater numbers of people.
Genetic tools have rapidly evolved, increasing the speed of breeding and dramatically lowering the costs.
According to the Canada Grains Council, “whether it’s developing a canola variety that is more resistant to disease, a high-fibre wheat crop, a soybean that produces a healthier oil or popular fruits and vegetables that don’t go brown as quickly … gene editing has the potential to offer benefits to farmers, food processors and consumers.”
But this is where some folks, including CBAN, run into the scientific wall of understanding and trust.
Since April, the group has been preparing to battle the government in the press over the outcome of Health Canada’s consultation process that appears likely to state that gene editing and other modern plant breeding tools like CRISPR, TALENS, ZFNs and homing endonucleases, are safe plant breeding technologies.
Whether it is the speed of change or the role of larger corporations in breeding and distribution that they fear, critics of the technology have a right to speak on the subject and object to it as they deem necessary. They do not have the right to interfere with proven safe science that is put to use in feeding the world in a sustainable and profitable manner.
It appears Canada will join the United States, Australia, Japan and Argentina in approving the use of gene editing technology. That will give Canadian farmers access to the same tools so they can compete on a world scale. The resulting improved genetics also have potential to lower carbon emissions and chemical use.
The Canadian government should announce the results of consultations as soon as possible and make more choices available to farmers.
Karen Briere, Bruce Dyck, Barb Glen and Mike Raine collaborate in the writing of Western Producer editorials.
