GMO talk on P.E.I.

A talk about genetic engineering is coming to Charlottetown on Nov. 29, organized by some Island groups not in favour of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

The speaker is Ricarda Steinbrecher, a biologist, molecular geneticist and co-director of EcoNexus, a not-for-profit UK-based group. EcoNexus is a public interest research organization that analyses developments in science and technology and their impacts on environment and society.

The talk is called “The Future of Genetic Engineering: Salmon, Potatoes and New Gene Editing Technologies. Steinbrecher has worked on the risks and impacts of GMOs on agriculture, environment and health since 1985. Her work has been published on the EcoNexus website.

The talk is organized by Earth Action, Council of Canadians – P.E.I. chapter and the Mackillop Centre for Social Justice, as well as the national organization Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN).

UPEI genetics professor Lawrence Hale said a lot of the kerfuffle over GMOs is overblown.

“I don’t think this is a riskfree technology, but by the same token I don’t think there’s any risks that are not found in other ways of breeding plants as well. We eat mutated genes all the time. The DNA just gets digested through the digestive track and degraded like everything else.”