The Rural Voice, 1999-11, Page 50BRUCE
Email: bruce@ofa.on.ca
website: www.ofa.on.calbruce
County Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER
446 10th St., Hanover, Ontario N4N 1P9
519-34-3050 or 1-800-275-9551
• The Rural Voice is provided to Bruce
County Farmers by the BCFA.
GMO crops must be demonstrated to be safe
Any opinions e.vpressed herein may
not necessarily reflect the views of
the Bruce County Federation of
Agriculture.
First off. I hope you had a blessed
Thanksgiving. We should all be very
thankful to have such an abundance
and variety of excellent safe foods to
choose from.
Which brings me to a topic with
which I am getting more and more
confused about as time goes on, and
that is the safety of the food we
consume daily. In particular I am
wondering about the huge push by
multi -national chemical companies to
introduce. come hell or high water,
Genetically Modified Organisms
(GMO) foods. There is no long-term
study done to guarantee the safety of
GMO foods, so it could endanger the
lives of our children and
grandchildren. Then there is the
question of it being environmentally
responsible to introduce GMO crops;
(which could kill Monarch butterflies
and other species). The scariest thing
about this whole push by multi-
national chemical companies is
CONTROL. There already are now
too few companies in the world for
BCFA conducts
survey on large
livestock operations
The Bruce County Federation of
Agriculture is conducting a survey of
OFA members in Bruce County
requesting input concerning policy
for large livestock operations in our
area.
BCFA would like to take a pro-
active approach on behalf of our
members, to establish a position that
reflects the wishes of the
membership. All responses will
remain confidential.
If you are an OFA member in
Bruce County and did not receive a
form for whatever reason, please
contact our office and we will
forward the survey to you. Please call
519-364-3050 or 1-800-275-9551.0
46 THE RURAL VOICE
proper competition. With the
patenting of certain genes, your
choice of what you plant r,•ill be
limited to a few companies' products.
There is no method now for
consumers to pick out foods that are
non-GMO, therefore all GMO foods
should be labelled. It could be as
simple as the letters .GMO printed on
the packaging. I think a campaign to
actively oppose the creation of GMO-
altered foods is possible (think about
the BST program which has been
successfully stopped so far in
Canada).
Another problem I foresee is, how
can we possibly keep the two product
lines separate in the combines, grain
elevators, and the like. You are now
asked to plant a buffer strip in
between some crops. So how that
would go at the elevator is beyond
me (maybe build duplicate
elevators?).
To sum this up, it needs to be
demonstrated that the life -enhancing
and life-saving capacities of these
foods are of no danger to the future,
be that our children. grandchildren or
the environment.
There is furthermore the aspect of
the so-called terminator gene, but that
is a topic for a future article.0
— Submitted by Robert A. Bregman
OFA Regional Director, Bruce South
BRUCE COUNTY FEDERATION
OF AGRICULTURE
DIRECTORS' MEETING
Monday, November 15; 1999
8:00 p.m.
OMAFRA Boardroom, Walkerton
Members are welcome to attend
** NOTE DATE CHANGE**
Where Does My Membership Fee Go?
For the Work of Other Organizations $ Dollars Soent
CFA dues:
CFA meetings:
CFA Ottawa Watch:
Other Organizations - AgCare & OFAC
FFRL, AALP & OAFE:
UCFO:
Subtotal:
5
1
1
1
1
2
11
Grants to County Federations
Grants:
25
Subtotal:
25
Cost of Doing Business
Finance and Administration:
15
Overhead:
11
Subtotal:
26
For the Work of the OFA
Board, Executives and Committees:
18
Annual Meeting and Convention:
6
Research and Policy:
14
Special Projects:
1
Subtotal:
39
For the Member
Communications and Information:
5
Benefits and Special Events:
5
Member Service Representatives:
29
Subtotal:
39
Overall Subtotal:
140
GST:
10
Total:
$150