A longtime Richmond food campaigner is urging city council to go a step further than writing a strongly worded letter about banning genetically engineered (GE) crops.
Arzeena Hamir, formerly of the Richmond Food Security Society, has helped raise a 1,000-signature petition she hopes will convince the city to declare Richmond a GE crop-free zone.
Hamir was set to speak to city councils general purposes committee on Tuesday afternoon, pleading with them to go the extra mile ahead of a staff recommendation to send letters to senior levels of government requesting mandatory labelling of foods that contain products of GE crops.
The move, however, falls short of a ban on GE shrubs, plants and crops; a move sought by grassroots movement GE Free BC, which Hamir supports. It could be something similar to when an area is classed by a city as a nuclear-free zone. Lots of businesses in Richmond are behind this as well.
GE food is nowhere near as safe as people are being told, warned Hamir, who added that Richmond only has three farms that produce such foods.
It wouldnt have a huge impact if Richmond were to go through with this, she said. It would be more symbolic than anything else and would put Richmond firmly on the map, making them the first city in the Lower Mainland to have such a designation.
GE Free BC has spent two years trying to convince Richmond to join a handful of communities in B.C. that have enacted such bans. Rossland, Kaslo, Nelson, Powell River and Saltspring Island have enacted such bans, but for a predominantly agricultural municipality to do so would be a powerful statement, Hamir said.
with a file from the Vancouver Sun
