VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Thousands of British Columbians believe it’s time to stop farmers from planting, importing or exporting genetically modified crops.

The matter is a resolution that will be debated at the Union of BC Municipalities next week.

The Society for a GE Free BC has collected over 5,000 signatures from people that want to restrict engineered crops and seeds across the province.

Teresa Lynne with the group says you wouldn’t notice a difference on your grocery bill.

“It’s been proven that with sustainable farming and organic farming, you can actually grow more and produce more food, which in turn should bring the cost down over the long term.”

Lynne says banning the foods wouldn’t be that hard to do, since there isn’t as much engineered crops here as in the rest of Canada.

“We actually have 62 communities right now in BC that are already declared through council as GE free zones. We have 10 regional districts, so there is a huge grass-roots movement.”

Richmond and North Vancouver are municipalities that have already declared themselves GE free zones.

People lobbying to ban genetically modified crops say not enough long-term studies have been undertaken to grasp the potential health impacts. Health Canada has done no testing of its own.

Lynne says until genetically modified foods are proven to be safe, there should be a moratorium on their use.