National Campaign Pressures Walmart to Say No to GE Sweet Corn
Consumers ask America’s Largest Food Retailer Not to Sell Genetically Engineered Sweet Corn
Washington, D.C. – With the 2012 growing season just around the corner, national consumer organization Food & Water Watch is challenging Walmart, the country’s largest food retailer, to measure up to its sustainability claims and say no to Monsanto’s first genetically engineered sweet corn. Food & Water Watch today announced a national campaign to pressure the company for a commitment not to sell the GE sweet corn, which would send a strong signal that this product is not desirable in the marketplace. To date, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods and General Mills have already agreed not to use GE sweet corn in any of their products.
“We’re giving Walmart a golden opportunity to join other major retailers and do the right thing,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch. “Just last week, they launched a brand new website to flaunt their green credentials, and in several high-profile events in the past couple of years, they’ve declared support for local farming, healthier eating and providing an oasis in food deserts. If Walmart is genuine about protecting the environment and bringing healthier food to everyone, they’ll listen to the vast majority of consumers across the country who don’t want untested, unlabeled GE sweet corn in their grocery carts.”
Public opinion polls done by Consumer Reports show that a majority of consumers asked would not eat genetically modified food and nearly all – 95 percent – are insistent that GE food must be labeled, at minimum, so they can make informed choices. As the country’s largest grocery retailer, Walmart sells $129 billion worth of food a year, giving it unmatched power in shaping the food supply chain. If Walmart refuses to stock Monsanto’s GE sweet corn, other retailers will likely follow suit and farmers won’t feel the economic pressure to plant the biotech seeds.
In August, Monsanto announced that its Roundup Ready GE sweet corn would be available for planting. Although the sweet corn is the first GE vegetable of this type to be commercialized by Monsanto, it received swift approval from the USDA since the agency does no independent testing of GE crops and the seed’s three distinct traits were previously approved, each separately, in 2005 and 2008. The three traits are corn-borer resistance, rootworm resistance and tolerance for glyphosate – the primary ingredient in Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup.
Monsanto intends to grow its GE sweet corn on 250,000 acres this year, accounting for roughly 40 percent of the sweet corn market. Unlike the GE corn that has been used in animal feed and highly processed foods since 1996, GE sweet corn is intended for frozen and canned corn products, but could also be sold as fresh corn on the cob through retailers.
Since the fall of 2011, Food & Water Watch and its allies Center for Environmental Health, Center for Food Safety, CREDO Action and Food Democracy Now! have collected over a quarter-million signatures from consumers who said they would refuse to purchase GE sweet corn and are asking retailers and food processors not to sell the biotech corn. Food & Water Watch believes this new campaign focused on Walmart could have a major impact in ending the market for this untested, unlabeled GE vegetable and send a strong signal that there is no market for this latest GE product.
“It’s bad enough that GE ingredients in some form or another are in about 80 percent of highly processed foods like cookies and chips, but with this new GE sweet corn, even people who avoid packaged junk food for fresh corn could run the risk of unknowingly consuming high doses of GE material since labeling is not required,” said Hauter. “If Walmart sincerely does want to help its customers make healthier food choices, it should take the first step and choose not to sell GE sweet corn in its stores.”
The potential health and environmental risks associated with GE crops include increased food allergies and unknown long-term health effects in humans; the rise of superweeds and pests like the rootworm that have become resistant to GE-affiliated herbicides and pesticides and require many more toxic chemicals to be applied to crops; and the contamination of organic and non-GE crops through cross-pollination and seed dispersal. There are also significant ethical and economic concerns involved with the patenting of living organisms and the corporate consolidation of the seed supply.
More information about Food & Water Watch’s campaign to stop Walmart from selling Monsanto’s GE sweet corn can be found at www.foodandwaterwatch.org.
Contact: Anna Ghosh, aghosh(at)fwwatch(dot)org, 415-293-9905