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Demand Walmart Reject Monsanto’s Genetically Engineered Sweet Corn

  • Spence Cooper
  • February 22, 2012

The USDA recently approved Monsanto’s genetically engineered Bt sweet corn which will be sold on the ear in the produce section of grocery stores. This is the agri-giant’s first GMO corn product made available directly to consumers.

Natural News claims Monsanto first unveiled this new variety of GM sweet corn back in August, which rivals Syngenta’s GM sweet corn that has already been on the market in limited form for the past ten years.

Monsanto’s GMO Bt sweet corn will also be used in canned and frozen foods, and will be indistinguishable from natural corn because the FDA does not require genetically altered food products to be labeled.

According to Food & Water Watch, Monsanto’s genetically engineered Bt sweet corn will debut in Walmart stores across the country as early as Summer 2012, unless there is massive public outcry in opposition.

Some Of Us.org claims consumers are fighting back. “Thanks to consumer pressure, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and General Mills have all agreed to not use Monsanto’s GM sweet corn in any of their products. But Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest organic retailer, is holding out.

“Monsanto’s GMO sweet corn containing Bt toxin is designed to protect the plant by rupturing the stomach of any insect that feeds on it. Monsanto claims the toxin will break down before the corn makes it to your dinner table, but rats fed with the GM corn showed organ failure, and the toxin has been detected in the bodies of pregnant women.”

Please add your name to this petition.

Food And Water Watch will be delivering petition signatures to Walmart, demanding they reject genetically engineered sweet corn by April 1st, before it’s widely planted in order to help make sure genetically engineered sweet corn doesn’t reach your plate.

More from Food and Water Watch: “Whether you shop at Walmart or not, they are the largest U.S. food retailer, and if they won’t sell genetically engineered sweet corn, it’s likely that farmers won’t plant it. Monsanto’s GE sweet corn hasn’t been tested for human safety, and it contains three different genetically engineered traits that have never been used in food eaten directly by people.”

France Wants GMO Corn Banned in EU

The French government has asked the European Commission to suspend Monsanto GM corn known as MON 810. The French government says the GM plant, MON810, is an environmental hazard.

The French banned the crop in 2008 despite losing court rulings against Monsanto. MON810 is the only GM plant approved by the EU. In a statement the ecology ministry said its request is based on latest scientific studies which show that the use of GM crops poses a significant risk to the environment.

The ministry referred to a recent study by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) that raised concerns with another form of GM crop, BT11, that it said could also be applied to MON 810.

“If the European Union does not act, we can invoke the safeguard clause” which allows EU nations to independently restrict or prohibit the sales of products, it said.

Last November President Sarkozy said he would seek new legal measures after the European Court of Justice and France’s highest administrative court overturned a French ban on Monsanto GM crops.

New Research: GMO Food Highly Dangerous

Demand Walmart Reject Monsanto’s Genetically Engineered Sweet CornGreenMedInfo.com, a website providing free access to biomedical research and alternative toxicology information, claims disturbing new research published in the Journal of Applied Toxicology indicates that genetically modified (GM) crops with “stacked traits” are likely far more dangerous to human health than previously believed, due to their synergistic toxicity.

Stacked traits are multiple traits such as glyphosate-herbicide resistance and Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) insecticidal toxins engineered together into the same plant.

Resistance to glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup, has been engineered into many GM plants so the herbicide can be sprayed without destroying the crops. But GM glyphosate-resistant plants contain residues of glyphosate that present a significant health threat to the public.

According to the referenced latest study:

“The glyphosate-containing herbicide Roundup was tested on human embryonic kidney cells at concentrations between 1 to 20,000 parts per million (ppm). It was found that concentrations as low as 50 ppm per million, which the authors noted were ‘far below agricultural dilutions,’ induced cell death, with the 50% of the cells dying at 57.5 ppm. The researchers also found that the insecticidal toxin produced by GM plants known as Cry1Ab was capable of causing cell death at 100 ppm concentrations.”

The authors concluded: “In these results, we argue that modified Bt toxins are not inert on nontarget human cells, and that they can present combined side-effects with other residues of pesticides specific to GM plants.”

GreenMedInfo adds that these findings follow recent revelations that Roundup is several orders of magnitude more toxic than previously believed.

On February 14, the journal Archives of Toxicology reported that Roundup is toxic to human DNA even when diluted to concentrations 450-fold lower than used in agricultural applications.

“This effect is likely due to the presence of the surfactant polyoxyethyleneamine within the Roundup formulation which may dramatically enhance the absorption of glyphosate into exposed human cells and tissue.”

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