A strawberry with fishtails paced back and forth outside of Shaw's supermarket the other day, alongside an ear of corn with legs. No, this is not a science experiment gone radically wrong; it was a protest staged by a few Brandeis students and community organizers. Jayme Kurland '04, Rebeccah Horowitz '05, and Kaitlin Nichols '02 and other members of the Waltham community gathered outside of Shaw's Star Market on Lexington Street on Thursday, October 30 to protest Shaw's use of genetically engineered (GE) crops in their store brand products. A similar protest occurred at Shaw's Star Market on River Street. According to a phone interview with Nichols, Regional Coordinator for Genetic Engineering Action Network (GEAN), protesters used the proximity to Halloween to "take advantage of the freaky gene combinations that scientists use in genetically engineered foods."

The protest was organized by Jayme Kurland, Kaitlin Nichols, and Lindsey Farnsworth through Students for Environmental Action (SEA), in collaboration with GEAN. Other New England schools organized Halloween protests at other Shaw's, said Kurland.

The protests are part of a larger effort by SEA and GEAN to rid supermarkets, Shaw's markets in particular, of GE products. To this end, environmental groups (including SEA) have collected signatures for Shaw's Pledge cards. By signing, people pledge not to buy Shaw's products until GE products are removed from the shelves.

"So far about 6,000 people in New England have signed the pledge, and just this year about 115 Brandeis students have signed," Kurland said. "Our goal for this semester is to have 400 Brandeis students sign the cards, and by December we would like to have 10,000 total to give to Shaw's."

Although strawberries have yet to pop out of the ground with affixed fishtails, this deliberately humorous exaggeration seems to hold some truth for the anti-GE activists. "It's a matter of putting chemicals in your food. You don't know what the effects could be in the long run," Mara Cohen '04, a member of SEA, said in a phone interview. "It's just a fear of not knowing what's in your food."

Crops have been genetically engineered in order to ensure that the crops produce their own pesticides internally or in order to allow farmers to spray more herbicides on crops, explained Nichols. Corn, soy, cottonseed and canola are most commonly subjected to genetic engineering. In order to genetically engineer a crop, "(scientists) take the gene of one species and put it in another," said Nichols. Although the combinations of organisms that arrived to protest outside of Shaw's Star Market may have appeared outlandish, they are not far from the truth, as fish genes are combined with potato genes during genetic engineering processes, stated Cohen.

GEAN fears that genetically engineered foods could be hazardous to health. "Doctors and scientists warn that genetically engineered foods could trigger food allergies, have increased levels of toxins, or could hasten the spread of antibiotic resistance," said a GEAN October 2003 press release.

"We believe that it's unsafe for human health and could cause damage to immune systems," said Jen Brock, national coordinator for GEAN, in a phone interview.

Cohen explained that since genes from other organisms are transferred into crops without informing consumers, those who buy genetically engineered products often do not know exactly what they are eating; they may receive something other than what they expected. According to Cohen, if someone is allergic to fish and a fish gene is transferred into a potato, he or she could unknowingly eat the genetically engineered potato and incite an allergic reaction.

According to the company Web site, Shaw's Star markets believe that GE foods have been sufficiently tested, noting that GE products are regulated by the the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The site includes a section about the use of bioengineered foods in an attempt to reassure customers of their safety.

Shaw's Web site states, "From FDA's Web site: '...a food or food ingredient developed by genetic engineering must meet the same rigorous safety standards as other food products, and FDA has broad authority to take legal action against a substance that poses hazard to the public.' FDA considers most bioengineered crops as inherently safe to eat as long as they use genes already present in the food supply."

Anti-GE activists harbor additional concerns since genetically engineered crops sometimes cross-breed with non-genetically engineered plants. According to Brock, once a crop is genetically engineered, there is no reversal. "Once a gene is in the corn, it can spread to the weeds. There is no control."

Nichols explained that genetically engineered corn can cross-breed with non-genetically engineered corn, especially if the two crops are planted in neighboring fields, noting that corn can travel up to one mile in the wind.

Nichols added that StarLink, a genetically engineered corn that was approved for animal consumption only, appeared in Taco Bell's taco shells. "We are not sure how it happened," she said. "It could have cross bred with other corn."

Although protesters have currently chosen to focus on Shaw's, "this is not just a Shaw's issue," Teresa Edington, Shaw's spokesperson said in a phone interview. "It's a retail issue for food suppliers across the U.S."

GEAN has focused their efforts on Shaw's because Shaw's parent company, Sainsbury, which is stationed in the U.K., has already removed genetically engineered store brand products from their shelves.

"They have the institutional knowledge on how to do this (remove GE products from their stores)," said Nichols. "They have really great store brand products that they say they monitor from field to shelf."

She stated that genetically engineered foods were removed from U.K. supermarkets in 1991 after significant consumer pressure. "(Consumers) protested outside stores, just like we are doing here," said Nichols.

Nichols cited an independent study conducted by the Truefood Network that found that four out of the five chosen products from U.S. Shaw's markets contain genetically engineered components.

"By protesting and giving them the pledge cards, we are showing them that they cannot get away with the double-standard," Kurland said.

According to Shaw's Web site, the U.K. needed to outlaw GE products because they do not have a regulatory institution to oversee GE products. "In Europe, recent food safety problems (which are not related to bioengineering) have heightened public concern about all issues involving food and food safety," reads the site. "In fact, several European Union member nations have banned imports of genetically modified products. One reason for this difference in attitudes outside the United States is that our major trading partners do not have an equivalent to our Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate the development of bioengineered food."

Nichols seemed to hold hope for the future, however, noting that Shaw's has begun to pay attention to the issue of genetically engineered foods and addresses the issue on its Web site. Additionally, Shaw's labels all GE foods accordingly. Nichols also noted that other companies, including Gerber, FritoLay, McDonald's and Trader Joe's have begun to remove genetically engineered products from their shelves.