Ramifications of Controversy
Surrounding StarLink Corn

National Public Radio (NPR)
Morning Edition 29nov00

ANCHORS: BOB EDWARDS
REPORTERS: CHERYL CORLEY
BOB EDWARDS, host:

The Environmental Protection Agency is trying to decide whether a type of genetically engineered corn is safe for human consumption. That biotech corn, known by the brand name Starlink, has caused havoc in the food industry. At an EPA hearing yesterday, environmentalists and others lined up either to disparage Starlink or to testify to its safety. Investigators say 44 Americans complained of illness after eating foods containing the corn. Starlink originally was approved as livestock feed. Its discovery in taco shells in September led to a recall and a decline in corn exports. NPR's Cheryl Corley reports.

CHERYL CORLEY reporting:

Starlink is a biotech corn with added genes to fight off insect pests, like the destructive corn borer. But the seed also contains a controversial protein, Cry9C. It's not as easily digested as other proteins, and there's concern it could cause allergic reactions now that it's made its way into the human food supply. EPA Deputy Director Stephen Johnson says the independent panel will determine if the corn is safe.

Mr. STEPHEN JOHNSON (EPA Deputy Director): Here we're faced with a situation where a company has clearly broken the law, that an unlicensed product is now in the human food supply, and, you know, while we said we don't believe the risks are very great, we still don't know.

CORLEY: But while the EPA places the blame on the corn's developer, Aventis CropScience, environmental groups say that government is rushing the scientific process. Larry Bohlen is with Friends of the Earth, the group which found traces of Starlink in taco shells, and Bohlen says the EPA must share the blame for the Starlink fiasco.

Mr. LARRY BOHLEN (Friends of the Earth): The EPA has had the ability to test for over a year for the allergenicity of different types of engineered corn, and they haven't run those tests. I think it's very important that safety tests, environmental tests be run well before these crops are ever introduced into the marketplace.

CORLEY: Meantime, supporters of the corn say the issue is less about safety and more about the battle between environmental groups and the biotechnology industry. Aventis CropScience is no longer selling Starlink, but the fallout over its controversial protein continues. Last week, the company said samples of corn seed not sold under the Starlink name had also tested positive for Cry9C. Meanwhile, the recall of Starlink-contaminated products also widened when ConAgra Foods, the nation's second largest food manufacturer, told restaurants and other institutions to send back about a million and a half pounds of baking ingredients. The parent company of Aventis CropScience also announced it would spin the company off and focus more on its pharmaceuticals.

Caught in this latest dilemma over genetically modified crops are the nation's farmers.

(Soundbite of tractor)

CORLEY: Just a few days before the first frost hit Iowa, Loren Van Wyk pulled a strip tiller behind his tractor, laying down fertilizer on one of several fields he farms outside of Pella, about an hour east of Des Moines. Starlink was planted on about 1 percent of the country's corn acres, the bulk of it in Iowa. Van Wyk says more than a third of the bags of seed he bought last year were Starlink.

Mr. LOREN VAN WYK (Iowa Farmer): It's tied us up to the fact that this fall that we couldn't sell anything, because everybody was mass confusion for a while; didn't know what was happening. We had to build more storage, because nobody would take our corn. So we ended up shutting down for a week and a half and building a 50,000-bushel structure in order to hold the rest of my corn.

CORLEY: Van Wyk's farm is surrounded by several others that glitter gold with the remains of the corn harvest. In its directive to growers, Aventis said that 660-foot buffers were supposed to surround Starlink plantings to prevent contamination. But Van Wyk and others say any good stiff wind can cause cross-pollination, and Starlink has been found in areas where it shouldn't have been.

Mr. VAN WYK: I'm limited now to where I can bring this product. And everybody that has been approved to buy it is discounting this product, which is the same quality, you know, that I've always raised, but just because of this genetic problem, they're discounting the product and I'm going to have to take less money.

CORLEY: In all, says Van Wyk, he could lose as much as $ 34,000. Grain elevators, the country's giant mixing bowls for crops, also expect significant losses. At the Farmers Co-Op elevator in Prairie City, Iowa, grain rattles through the steel conduits and drops into bins. The facility can hold nearly three million bushels of corn. Marketing manager Rich Bishop said unlike farmers, who were supposed to be notified about Starlink's restrictions, he says no one told grain operators the different varieties of corn coming into the facility needed to be segregated. As a result, he says, the commingling of Starlink and conventional corn was inevitable.

Mr. RICH BISHOP (Marketing Manager, Farmers Co-Op): I have shipped out 98 cars of corn in the last month. They found Starlink positive in 39 cars. So I've got to write up 40 percent was rejected. One or two cars wouldn't be so bad to work with, but this changes the complete complexion of the whole works.

CORLEY: Bishop says so far Starlink could cost the co-op between $ 25,000 and $ 40,000. Moving the remaining Starlink out of the system could take about four years. That's why Aventis is seeking approval of the corn for human consumption. The company has also agreed to pay farmers and elevator operators 25 cents per bushel over normal local prices for Starlink and buffer corn, as well as extra transportation costs. However, 16 state attorneys general, led by Iowa's Tom Miller, say the company should do more.

Mr. TOM MILLER (Iowa Attorney General): We have asserted that there are possible and serious violations of the Iowa consumer fraud laws. So with that as a background, we've entered into some discussions and negotiations with Aventis.

CORLEY: The attorneys general want, among other things, for Aventis to speed up payments and to provide more testing resources. The company says it will work on a case-by-case basis. Meantime, the fears that the Starlink controversy could endanger the country's $ 5 billion export market continue. Dan Basse, analyst with Chicago's AgResource marketing firm, says that's because Japan, which bans genetically modified crops, is also the largest buyer of US corn. Although Japan has worked out a testing procedure with the United States to ensure it receives no Starlink, Basse says its willingness to buy US corn is lackluster.

Mr. DAN BASSE (AgResource): And the Japanese have been trying to buy corn from China and they've been trying to buy corn from Argentina to no avail. Supplies are basically exhausted. So sooner or later, they are going to have to return for US corn, but I think the process is going to be slow.

CORLEY: The scientific panel analyzing Starlink has until Friday to give its recommendation to the EPA. The agency will decide soon after that whether the remaining Starlink in the US is safe for humans. Meantime, as farmers begin to think about what seed they'll buy for the next planting season, they're getting messages from processors and Aventis competitors. Monsanto says it will restrict sales of one type of gene-altered corn next year and delay selling another. Some food processors want farmers to know next year they won't accept any biotech corn at all. Cheryl Corley, NPR News, Des Moines.