Health First: GMO”s and the state of farming in Canada

By Dave Fuller

               Recently on my radio show on CFUR radio cfur.ca,  I interviewed Percy Schmeiser a Saskatewan farmer who was taken to court by industry giant  Monsanto.  Monsanto took him to court after Monsanto’s GMO seed was found in his field.

Percy had been growing Canola or rapeseed as it was then known for 40 years and when Monsanto accused him of patent infringement Percy chose to go to court rather than pay what Monsanto was asking.  Percy argued that the seeds had blown into his field from the road and adjacent fields. The fight ended up in the Supreme Court of Canada with Percy not having to pay Monsanto but Monsanto patent being held up as valid.

In my interview with Percy he told about how farming has changed in the 50 years that he as farmed. How now farmers must pay for their seed and cannot save their seed from year to year when buying GMO seed.  How these new seeds don’t grow without adding the right fertilizers, how farmers are giving up their rights to sue, just by opening a bag of Monsanto’s seed and how “Monsanto’s Police” ex RCMP officers are harassing farmers and turning the prairies into a state where neighbor doesn’t trust neighbor.  Where farmers are going broke because of the imput costs associated with farming

There are many countries around the world that consider GMO foods to be an experiment on human health and ban and or label foods with GMO’s.

With GMO’s the DNA of the seed is changed. Other plant or animal species can be added to make the seed to grow in a different climate to grow larger, sweeter, faster and more mutant! The long term effect on human health has not been examined.  Tests are now underway to produce drugs in plants…. But what if these plants produce seeds that like the canola blow into another field and contaminate it?

Percy Schmeiser is now suing Monsanto because they have contaminated other fields of his with their GMO seeds… and the cost to clean it up is significant.

In finishing my interview with Percy after all the gloom and doom about farming. I asked him what he would do if he was a young farmer starting out and he stated that he would go into organic farming. Not only was there more money it but the health of the land and the health of the farmer was not exposed to the risks of modern farming. 

At a time when many of us are thinking about putting our seeds in our little back yard gardens maybe we should take Percy’s comments to heart and use less chemicals and a little more compost.

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