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by Zoe Streatfield
BRITISH families could be exposed to substances linked to cancer under a trade deal that poses a “major threat” to food safety and animal welfare, campaigners warned yesterday.
War on Want also raised concerns that despite the Brexit vote, “anti-democratic” EU-Canada trade deal Ceta could leave Britain open to being sued under investor-state dispute settlement privisions for up to 20 years after leaving the EU.
A report published by the charity along with its allies in other European countries and Canada highlights “huge differences” in food standards between the EU and Canada and warns that the deal will reduce regulations to the lowest common denominator.
War on Want spokesman Mark Dearn said: “Chefs like Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall have rightly highlighted the immense threat posed to food safety by TTIP.
“Ceta is no different — it must be immediately rejected.”
The report warns that Canadian regulations on genetically modified foods, pesticides, food dyes, chlorinated chicken, hormones and animal welfare are less robust than the corresponding EU rules, so that harmonising standards could lead to the reintroduction of banned substances linked to cancer.
It also notes that the European Commission has begun lowering standards as a gesture of good faith to the Canadian government.
The example it gives is a herbicide found in Monsanto’s “Roundup” weedkiller called glyphosate which the World Health Organisation has classified as “probably carcinogenic” to humans.
Nonetheless, in 2015 the Canadian government ruled the substance was “unlikely to pose a human cancer risk.”
Earlier this year, the European Commission announced the renewal of Monsanto’s permit — despite the European Parliament committee on environment, public health and food safety voting against the commission’s proposed renewal of glyphosate.
As well as dangers to public health and animal welfare, the report highlights a threat to small farmers, as they are likely to be replaced by factory farms.
Mr Dearn insisted: “We cannot let our food safety rules or the livelihoods of European farmers be traded away for the sake of Canadian agribusiness profits.”
He called on the European Parliament to listen to the objections of more than 3.4 million people across the EU and stop the deal.
German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel admitted on Sunday that agreement over TTIP could not be reached, but Ceta has already been ratified and could be passed by Parliament before Brexit takes effect.
