U.S. Buyback of Corn Seed Draws 77 Smaller Companies

Jill Carroll / Wall Street Journal 24apr01

WASHINGTON -- The Agriculture Department said 77 small seed companies have enrolled in a government buyback program for corn seed inadvertently contaminated with a genetically modified variety not approved for human use.

The companies produce less than 1% of all corn seed in the U.S. The department said it didn't know how much StarLink-contaminated corn seed each of the companies has found.

The department's buyback program, which was announced last month, is expected to cost between $15 million and $20 million. Agriculture Department spokesman Kevin Herglotz said the program was only for smaller companies because larger ones already have testing and disposal systems in place.

Mr. Herglotz said the Agriculture Department wants to make sure that all StarLink corn is off the U.S. market, including the tiny amount produced by smaller companies. He said it would be several more weeks before the department knows how many companies signed up of the 281 eligible.

The Environmental Protection Agency has approved StarLink for use only in animal feed because of concerns that it might cause allergic reactions in humans. But the corn, which contains an insecticide, managed to make its way into the human food supply last year, prompting widespread food recalls.

Since then, StarLink's maker, Aventis SA of France, has pulled it from the market. The company is reimbursing some farmers and others in the industry for losses suffered when corn crops intended for human consumption became contaminated with StarLink.

Monday, Aventis tried to bolster its argument that the government should approve the use of StarLink corn at some level in humans' food, since it is nearly impossible to eradicate it from the food supply. The company submitted tests to the EPA showing, it said, that corn products made from 100% StarLink corn -- a percentage not used in any product -- would contain only tiny amounts of the material after processing, levels too low to affect humans.

The EPA wouldn't comment on the Aventis submission. But Larry Bohlen, director of health and environment programs for environmental-activist group Friends of the Earth, said no level of StarLink should be allowed in food since no one knows how harmful it might be.