Thousands across Canada joined others around the world at rallies to decry agricultural giant Monsanto, a company protesters claim behaves unethically in its development and implementation of pesticides and genetically modified foods.
鈥淢illions Against Monsanto鈥� protesters in Toronto also denounced the recent approval of genetically modified salmon in Canadian markets.
鈥淪almon was approved despite tens of thousands of people standing up in this country and in the U.S. saying that they don鈥檛 want it,鈥� said Jodi Koberinski, part of the activist group Beyond Pesticides Canada.
鈥淭his is again part of an issue where we鈥檙e facing corporate control over the food system and over the rule-making,鈥� Koberinski said.
Monsanto develops and sells a range of seeds genetically tailored to be superior to 鈥渘atural鈥� crops that have been modified only through selective breeding.
For example, Monsanto sells an herbicide called glyphosate under the name 鈥淩oundup,鈥� and also sells seeds genetically engineered to resist glyphosate, which it calls 鈥淩oundup Ready鈥� seeds.
A company called AquaBounty developed the salmon many were expressing concerns over. Using genes from other animals, their fish have been modified to grow twice as fast as wild salmon, and will soon be available in Canada.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the first genetically modified animal to go to market, and it won鈥檛 be labelled any differently,鈥� said Rachel Parent, founder of GMO labelling advocacy group Kids Right to Know.
Parent says her group wants mandatory labelling of all genetically modified foods.
鈥淭hat way people can choose for themselves whether they want to eat it or not,鈥� Parent said.
Though the protesters named one company specifically, they say Monsanto is essentially just the face of what they claim is a culture of corporate greed in the food industry.
鈥淭his is an issue that really transcends so many different factors,鈥� said protester Patricia Krumpek. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just basic democracy. People want to know what鈥檚 in their food.鈥�
That attitude apparently also transcends borders. The highlights marches in the U.S., France, Japan and elsewhere.
