Walmart: Label Genetically Engineered Products

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NOTE: This is a guest post from Zack Kaldveer, Assistant Media Director for the Yes on Prop 37 campaign.

Labor Day is just around the corner and that means friends, family and neighbors will be gathering together to grill up their favorite foods. Barbeque season will be in full swing, and that means supermarkets will be filled with shoppers searching for the usual assortment of typical fan favorites like chicken, steak, burgers, and corn on the cob.

But when it comes to the new sweet corn that Walmart will be selling, do people really know what they’re buying? This new sweet corn, thanks to Monsanto, the world’s largest agribusiness corporation, has been genetically engineered with an insecticide inside it — not on the corn, but IN it.

The Bt toxin infused in the corn works as an insecticide by disintegrating the lining of insects’ stomachs when they eat the corn. So what might this do to the bodies of adults or children? We don’t know.

The genetically engineered sweet corn, which has also been manipulated at the DNA level to withstand pesticides that are sprayed on it, has never been proven safe. The US Food and Drug Administration require no safety testing of genetically engineered foods. No long-term health studies have been conducted, and no labeling will be provided to alert unsuspecting consumers exactly what they are eating.

Yet there are studies showing there is reason for concern. For example, a 2009 study in the International Journal of Biological Sciences linked Monsanto’s genetically modified corn to kidney and liver damage in rats.

A 2011 Canadian study found that 93 percent of blood samples from pregnant women and 80 percent of blood samples from umbilical cords contained traces of a component of Bt toxin used in genetically engineered foods.

What are the health effects of these toxins on babies and children? No one really knows.

What then should we make of a recent statement by a Walmart spokesperson who told the Chicago Tribune he sees “no scientifically valid reason” not to sell this corn? A convenient non-answer in light of the fact the U.S. doesn’t require such safety studies.

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Read more: CA Right to Know, ge, GE foods, genetically modified, walmart

Photo courtesy of CA Right to Know.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Chioma O.

4:07AM PDT on May 6, 2013

university of nigeria has series of conferences,lecuter and workshop for people to learn new things http://www.unn.edu.ng

May 6
send a green star

Wendy S.

11:58AM PDT on Sep 15, 2012

Don't buy at Wal-mart unless there is no other store you can buy your food at. Wal-mart is evil.

September 15
send a green star

Diane L.

3:32AM PDT on Sep 6, 2012

Oh Good GRIEF, Anna, what does a long ago deceased Native American (a century ago) have to do with Walmart or Monsanto's GMO'd corn?

Chief Sealth was a great leader, but I doubt he would have had much influence on where 97% of the corn sold or is available for consumption in the world now comes from, even if he was still living.

September 6
send a green star

Leen K.

8:09PM PDT on Sep 5, 2012

Walmart..pls do have honesty, integrity and courtesy! People consumer do have choice, FREEDOM & RIGHTS to know what they are buying and eaten.

September 5
send a green star

paul m.

1:24PM PDT on Sep 5, 2012

Noted

Brian M.

9:26AM PDT on Sep 5, 2012

Americans have the right to know.

Dan B.

8:11AM PDT on Sep 5, 2012

YES on CA Prop 37!

Don't let the Monsanto monster beat us down!

Please help out to support Prop 37 in California, which would require the labeling of GMOs. If we can't ban these potentially dangerous engineered products, we can at least give consumers the right to know.

This will have a major impact across the country and possibly around the world.

Join us:

spread the word through social media and elsewhere; donate $; volunteer from anywhere by phone banking; vote; write letters to the editors; call talk shows; talk to friends and neighbors; make posters; distribute fliers; wear a button; etc. Do whatever you can.

YES on Prop 37!