Taco shells ring bells with UCLA group

  CATHERINE JUN Pam Conder purchases food
at Taco Bell. Although taco shells across the U.S. have been
recalled for containing corn fit only for animal consumption, the
Taco Bell at UCLA does not serve the same shells.

By Melody Wang
Daily Bruin Contributor

Students stand in line for tacos every day, unaware they may be
consuming a potentially harmful product.

After discovering that taco shells from Taco Bell may cause
health problems, one environmental group plans to educate the
public about genetically engineered foods and hold the Food and
Drug Administration more accountable.

Merchants are removing taco shells from grocery stores
nationwide because the genetically engineered corn used to make
them is believed to cause sickness.

Cry9C, the corn marketed under the name StarLink, has been
approved by the Environmental Protection Agency as fit only for
animal consumption.

“It’s outrageous that you’re eating this corn
that’s suitable for animal food,” said Merriah
Fairchild, an organizer for the California Public Interest Group on
campus.

According to Julie Miles, CALPIRG’s genetic engineering
campaign director, only the taco shells on grocery store shelves
were found to be harmful, but Taco Bell decided to replace the
shells in all 7,000 restaurants, including the one at UCLA.

But Dave Nirenberg, the associate director of Outlying Areas and
North Campus, said he has not been informed of any of UCLA’s
Taco Bell shells being replaced.

“They assured us that none of that (harmful product) made
it to our store,” said Nirenberg, who oversees restaurants on
campus including Taco Bell.

He also said UCLA’s Taco Bell has a small storage space
and only keeps enough food to be sold in two or three days.

Some students said though the Taco Bell on campus does not serve
the same shells, it should inform students of what’s happened
nonetheless.

“Personally, I don’t really care,” said Jacob
Zepeda, a fourth-year history student. “But I think being
that the people here at UCLA are so delicate about everything,
(Taco Bell) should have told them.”

The Genetically Engineered Food Alert group, founded in part by
CALPIRG, discovered the Kraft-produced taco shells were potentially
harmful during a random testing of yellow corn.

Fairchild said CALPIRG will begin educating students about
genetically engineered food as a result of this incident.

“It’s such a new issue,” Fairchild said.
“Everyone has to learn about it for the first
time.”

She also said it is important for students to hold the FDA
accountable by pushing the administration to test all genetically
engineered food and require all processed foods to be labeled,
something the FDA is currently not required to do.

“I think it’s outrageous that an agency that’s
set up to protect the welfare of the American public is not doing
its job,” said Marc Nickel, state board chair of CALPIRG.

While some short-term effects of Cry9C are known, such as
nausea, there are still many mysteries surrounding genetically
engineered food, Miles said.

For instance, no studies have been made on the long-term effects
of Cry9C consumption. Also, because it was discovered in the taco
shells during a random sampling, harmful genetically engineered
ingredients may exist in other processed foods.

“This very well could be just the tip of the
iceberg,” Miles said.

CALPIRG members said while this incident is unfortunate, it will
hopefully spark improvement in government regulations.

“I think it’s a setback, but I also think it’s
an opportunity to educate the public about this new
technology,” Fairchild said.

For more information go to www.pirg.org/ge or www.tacobell.com/kraftfoods/index.htm