This approach seeks, as a primary goal, to protect human and animal health and the environment, while avoiding to the extent possible impediments to economic development. It uses science-based risk assessments and takes into account the characteristics of the product and the potential risks of the product through its whole life cycle. The Canadian risk assessment process to determine health, safety and efficacy is generally acknowledged to be among the best in the world. They work closely together to ensure that products are properly assessed before being introduced into the Canadian market. Making it happen At the heart of the biotechnology debate is the question of consumer confidence and comfort with the new DNA-based technologies.
All new technologies tend to engender uncertainties at their outset.
And it is precisely because these new technologies are so far-reaching that science alone is not sufficient to secure consumer acceptance of genetically engineered products in the marketplace. Consumers want to be assured that the risks associated with the new DNA-based technologies are being adequately addressed. Science, therefore, must work hand in hand with efforts to inform the public about the risks and benefits of new technologies and products, the processes for testing such products before they are released into the marketplace, as well as the regulatory safeguards that are in place to minimize and manage those risks. Greater transparency of the processes involved could do much to increase consumer acceptance. Consumers need more information about the new genetically engineered products from a source, and in a form, that they find credible.