OTTAWA – Paul Dewar (Ottawa Centre) has tabled a bill to improve Canada’s food labeling practices and provide everyday Canadians with full disclosure of ingredients in the food items they purchase. Dewar’s bill requires the mandatory labeling of the use of hormones, antibiotics or rendered slaughterhouse waste in meat and poultry products, and the use of pesticides or genetically modified organisms in all food products.

“When Canadian families put food on their tables, they want to make sure that the food is nourishing them, not making them sick”, said Dewar. “We want mandatory labeling of food products, so that we know what’s in our food”.

Families have the right to know what’s in their food: DewarCurrent labeling practices in Canada tell consumers how much salt, fat, cholesterol and carbohydrates are in a particular product. But both the current and the previous federal governments have refused to improve the laws in order to give full disclosure of food ingredients to Canadians.

“It’s high time we have full disclosure of food ingredients” said Laura Telford, the Executive Director of Canadian Organic Growers, “this bill finally allows Canadian consumers to make an informed decision about the food they eat”.

“Improved food labeling allows Canadians to identify foods that can be part of a healthy diet” concluded Dewar. “The parliament’s support for this bill will go a long way in contributing to the health of our communities”.

Background information for Paul Dewar’s food labeling bill: Health hazards in the food we eat:

Food ingredients can have a lasting effect on our health. Canadians should have the right to know what’s in the food we eat. Paul Dewar’s bill calls for mandatory labeling of the following items:

In meat and poultry products:

• Hormones: Consumption of growth hormones alleged to be used in farming cattle and chicken can lead to hormonal imbalance, causing a variety of health problems such as premature onsets of puberty. The use of hormones in poultry products is illegal in the US and Australia. The EU has banned the use of certain hormones in cattle farming.
• Antibiotics: studies suggest that the use of antibiotics at factory farms threatens the effectiveness of drugs used to treat disease in humans as bacterial strains develop stronger resistance to antibiotics. A 2000 study by the Food and Drug Administration in the US discovered that at least two types of antibiotics were no longer effective in treating diseases found in factory-farmed chickens.
• Rendered slaughterhouse waste: one of the origins of the Mad Cow Disease (BSE) is believed to have been the feeding of rendered slaughterhouse waste from infected sheep to cattle. The practice of feeding slaughterhouse waste to cattle has now been banned in Europe but is still allowed in North America.

In all food products:

• Pesticides: The US National Academy of Sciences estimates that between 4,000 and 20,000 cases of cancer are caused per year by pesticide residues in food.
• Genetically modified organisms: Genetically Modified foods are not tested to scientific standards before being released to the public. While the long-term health risks of genetically modified food have not been adequately studied, the food items are increasingly prevalent in our everyday diet.

Dewar’s bill gives Canadians the opportunity to make an informed decision about the food they put on their family’s table.