July 29, 2010
Take Action / Resources / Topics / GE Crops and Foods (On the Market) / Corn
Corn
Stop "SmartStax" Eight-Trait GE Corn
Tell the Minister of Health: Its unacceptable that Health Canada did not assess the safety of 'SmartStax' before it was approved by our government. Click here to send your instant email lettter.
February 2010:Read this month's article in Alive Magazine.
November 2009. Monsanto responds to CBAN's opinion piece on SmartStax in the Western Producer farm newspaper.
Action Resources:
- Instant email letter.
- Postcards to print and send to the Minister.
-
Flyer on SmartStax for printing and folding.
- Talking points for calling or writing the Minister.
- Factsheet: Why 'SmartStax' is Dumb
Scroll down for information 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 already approved the eight single GM traits that are in “SmartStax” individually in earlier crops. Health Canada says that combining eight GM traits together in one food 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 GE corn 'SmartStax' into 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 have previously been approved in separate crops, Canadian regulators do not see anything new in combining the eight together in one crop - 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.
The Codex guidelines say “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 GE plants) and that such crops should go through a full safety assessment (para 14, CAC/GL 45-2003). See below for further details.
Information Resources:
- CBAN Opinion: Stacked traits lack assessment, Western Producer, October 15, 2009.
- Monsanto response: Stacked Traits good for growers, Western Producer, November 5, 2009.
- Full Analysis: Why did Monsanto's latest foods get a free pass from Health Canada? rabble.ca article
- Press Release: No Safety Assessment of GE Corn by Health Canada: Canada Ignores International Food Safety Guidelines. July 29, 2009.
- Press Release: CFIA ’s Irresponsible Rubber-Stamping of New Genetically Engineered Corn No environmental risk assessment, and reduced environmental stewardship requirements for new Monsanto/Dow “SmartStax”. July 24, 2009.
- CBAN letter to Health Canada. July 28, 2009.
- Response to Health Canada: ‘SmartStax’ Genetic Corn Really Safe? Montreal Gazette, CBAN Opinion Letter, July 30, 2009.
- CBAN letter to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, August 3, 2009.
- UN Codex Guideline for the Conduct of Food Safety Assessment of Foods Derived from Recombinant-DNA Plants.
- CBAN Briefing Note on GE regulation in Canada.
CBAN has written to Health Canada to demand that:
- Health Canada immediately request that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to rescind its authorization of the genetically engineered (GE) eight-trait corn called ‘SmartStax’ (Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences)
- Health Canada initiate a full food safety assessment of the GE 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 to halt any further approvals of stacked trait products until such time as Health Canada has reviewed its Novel Foods Regulations and initiated a system-wide review of the entire regulatory system for GE foods and crops (Novel Foods and Plants with Novel Traits).
- Click here to read the full letter from CBAN to Health Canada. July 28, 2009.
- Read the Minister of Health's response.
- Click here to read the CBAN letter to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, August 3, 2009.
- Read the CFIA's response.
Details: The international Codex Alimentarius Guideline for the Conduct of Food Safety Assessment of Foods Derived from Recombinant-DNA Plantsclearly 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).
