May 16, 2012

Corn

Consumer Advisory: GM Sweet Corn

Choose organic corn or ask at your Farmers’ Market, roadside stand or grocery store.

Sweet Corn Question Mark

Issued: July 29, 2011

The Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN) and the Ecological Farmers of Ontario have confirmed that genetically modified (GM) sweet corn is being grown by farmers in Ontario who are selling at roadside stands, at Farmers’ Markets, and through some local grocery stores.

What consumers can do:

  1. Buy organic sweet corn. Organic farming prohibits the use of genetic modification. Certified organic is your guarantee that your sweet corn is not genetically modified (and is also pesticide-free).
  2. Ask your local farmer or manager at the farm stand or grocery store if the sweet corn they are selling is genetically modified (also called genetically engineered). See below for helpful information.
  3. Send the Consumer Advisory to your friends and family: Click here for the email advisory.

Below is a checklist of information and a questionnaire to help you get an answer to your question. The checklist is important because:

  • Some farmers may be growing GM sweet corn but not be aware that it is GM.
  • Staff at the grocery store, or even the farm stand, will probably not be able to immediately answer your question and are very likely to be misinformed about GM foods.

GM corn is one of 4 GM crops grown in Canada: canola, soy, and white sugar beet (for sugar processing) are the others. The GM corn grown in Canada has been, until recently, all hard corn used for processed food ingredients and animal feed. The Canadian government does not label GM foods and does not keep national statistics on how much GM is grown or where. CBAN researches and monitors GM foods for you: for more information please see http://www.cban.ca/gmfoods

GM Sweet Corn Check List

Tips for asking your local farmer:

  • Does your sweet corn have insect protection? Is it resistant to corn borer or earworm? The GM sweet corn is sold under the brand name “Attribute” from Rogers which is owned by the biotech company Syngenta.
  • The GM sweet corn is genetically modified to be toxic to the European corn borer and corn earworm.
  • The GM technology that makes the plant toxic to these insects is Monsanto’s Bt “YieldGard” technology.
  • Farmers purchasing Attribute “BT insect-protected” seed will sign a “Attribute Grower Stewardship Agreement”.
  • What company did you buy your corn seed from? GM sweet corn is available to buy from US seed companies, including Seedway, selling “Genetically Enhanced” hybrid sweet corn seed. The sweet corn varieties are also called “insect protected hybrids” - the corn is a hybrid but it is also genetically modified. (Seedway also sells organic and untreated sweet corn seed.)

Tips for asking your grocery store, produce manager or farm stand manager:

Please contact us:

Blue Donate Button

If you find GM sweet corn, please inform CBAN of the location and of any details from your conversation with the farmer, farm stand manager or grocery store manager. Please send your information to coordinator@cban.ca or leave a message at 613 241 2267 ext 25 (this number will not be staffed until August 11). Fax 613 241 2506 If you have questions: You can also call Ann Slater, Chair of the Ecological Farmers of Ontario GE Committee 519-349-2448 aslater@quadro.net

Thank you for your action!

Stop "SmartStax" Eight-Trait GE Corn

June 28, 2011: German group Testbiotech released a critical new report that exposes unstudied questions in confidential industry documents from Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences on their genetically modified (GM) eight-trait corn called “SmartStax”, approved in Canada in 2009. The GM SmartStax corn produces six different insecticidal toxins and is tolerant to two herbicides. It was allowed onto the market in Canada without a safety evaluation from Health Canada.

SmartStax Traits

Credit: Testbiotech

June 28, 2011 - Press Release: Report Exposes Unstudied Risks of Monsanto's Genetically Modified "SmartStax" Corn: EU Member State critiques and leaked industry documents uncover safety questions

Backgrounders:

Tell the Minister of Health its unacceptable that Health Canada did not assess the safety of 'SmartStax' before it was approved. Click here to send your instant email letter.

Action Resources:

Background: Health Canada did not assess the safety of “SmartStax” GM corn. Health Canada does not classify “SmartStax” as a “Novel Food” because it has previously approved the eight single GM traits in “SmartStax”, individually in earlier crops. Health Canada says that combining eight GM traits together does not create any new risks and does not need any safety evaluation. Health Canada did not even bother to rubber-stamp “SmartStax” – it was approved for release by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, without Health Canada.

Summary: On July 15, 2009 Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences announced that they received approval to introduce their new eight-trait GM corn 'SmartStax' in Canada and the US. But Health Canada did not assess 'SmartStax' for human health safety and did not even bother to authorize it. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency authorized the environmental release of 'SmartStax' but never conducted an environmental risk assessment and actually substantially weakened its environmental stewardship rules for the crop. Because the eight traits were previously approved in separate crops, Canadian regulators do not see anything new in combining the eight together - despite the fact that the Codex international food safety guidelines that Canada helped to negotiate clearly state that stacked traits can lead to unintended effects and should be subject to a full safety assessment.

Information Resources:

Failure of Government Regulation

CBAN demands that:

  • Health Canada immediately request that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency rescind its authorization of the genetically modified (GM) eight-trait corn called ‘SmartStax’ (Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences)
  • Health Canada initiate a full food safety assessment of the GM corn as set out by the Codex Alimentarius Guideline for the Conduct of Food Safety Assessment of Foods Derived from Recombinant-DNA Plants.
  • Health Canada request the Canadian Food Inspection Agency halt any further approvals of stacked trait products until Health Canada has reviewed its Novel Foods Regulations and initiated a system-wide review of the entire regulatory system for GM foods and crops ("Novel Foods" and "Plants with Novel Traits").

The UN Codex guidelines for GM food safety assessment state that “unintended effects in recombinant-DNA plants may also arise through the insertion of DNA sequences an/or may arise through subsequent conventional breeding of the recombinant-DNA plant.’’ (this is how stacked trait GE crops like ‘SmartStax’ are produced – through the conventional breeding or crossing of GM plants) and that such crops should go through a full safety assessment (para 14, CAC/GL 45-2003).

The international Codex Alimentarius Guideline for the Conduct of Food Safety Assessment of Foods Derived from Recombinant-DNA Plants clearly recommends safety assessments of stacked trait GE crops. The Guideline clearly states that unintended effects can arise not only from genetically engineered (GE) plants, but can also arise when those GE plants are crossed via conventional breeding (as in the case of stacked-trait crops such as ‘SmartStax’): “Unintended effects in recombinant-DNA plants may also arise through the insertion of DNA sequences an/or may arise through subsequent conventional breeding of the recombinant-DNA plant” [bold added] (para 14, CAC/GL 45-2003). Furthermore, the Guidelines also state that such crops should go through a full safety assessment: “The assessment for unintended effects takes into account the agronomic/phenotypic characteristics of the plant that are typically observed by breeders in selecting new varieties for commercialization. These observations by breeders provide a first screen for plants that exhibit unintended traits. New varieties that pass this screen are subjected to safety assessment as described in Sections 4 and 5” [bold added] (para 17, CAC/GL 45-2003).

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