The City of Vancouver will kick off a week of events on Tuesday morning for Non-GMO Awareness Week in an effort to promote better understanding of the issues raised by genetically modified organisms in our food system.

Consumers are generally wary of GMOs when asked by pollsters, but many people hold serious misconceptions about GMOs and the risks they pose, especially to the environment, said Trish Kelly, a member of the Vancouver Food Policy Council.

“People are concerned about GMOs, but they don’t necessarily have all the facts, so the attention of having the city make this proclamation — the first one in Canada — allows us to have conversations about a pretty complicated issue,” said Kelly.