Slate Article Rebuts Media Item Linking Eosinophilic Disorder to GM Corn

An August 7, 2013, Slate article by Genetic Literacy Project Executive
Director Jon Entine has criticized a recent magazine story allegedly linking
eosinophilic disorder—“a multisystemic condition in which white blood cells
overproduce in response to allergens”—to genetically modified (GM) corn,
calling out Elle writer Caitlin Shetterly for stoking “conspiratorial fears that the
government is covering up evidence that GMO foods can damage the public
health.” According to Entine, the article in question “was particularly appalling”
insofar as it failed to produce any evidence or tests to confirm the “unusual
diagnosis” that GMO foods caused Shetterly’s autoimmune disorder. Instead,
Entine argues, Shetterly relied on a “journalistic trick… to frame a settled issue
in the scientific community as a mystery or a controversy.”

“There has not been one study that links the genetically engineered corn or
any approved genetically modified food on the market to allergies,” University
of California, Davis, plant geneticist Pamela Ronald told Entine. “The author,
and apparently this doctor, is under the mistaken belief that the process of
genetic modification can in itself create unique allergens that are not otherwise
found in nature or are not easily identified and evaluated. That’s just not
accurate.”