StarLink Altered Corn Found in Seed

AP 2mar01

WASHINGTON -- Traces of a genetically engineered variety of corn that prompted nationwide food recalls last year have been found in seed being prepared for sale to farmers, but none of the grain has been planted, the government said Thursday.

The contamination was discovered during testing that seed companies started this winter at the Agriculture Department's request, USDA officials said. Industry officials said the contamination is highly unlikely to cause a shortage of seed this spring.

Seed companies have detected traces of StarLink in 1 to 5 percent of the seed they have tested, according to an industry official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The department will evaluate the testing data to determine if additional steps are needed to prevent contamination of this year's corn crop, USDA spokesman Kevin Herglotz said after a two-hour meeting of industry and government officials.

The biotech corn, known as StarLink, was approved only for animal consumption because of unanswered questions about its safety for humans. ``The seed industry has informed us that they have found some of this in seed. They have told us that that seed has not gone onto the market,'' Herglotz said.

Farmers and grain exporters fear the discovery could alarm European and Asian companies that have said they will not buy any corn suspected of being tainted by StarLink. American exports of corn to Japan fell sharply last fall after a Japanese consumer group complained in October that StarLink had been detected in snack foods and animal feed there.

Seed companies ``have got a responsibility to not take this to the marketplace,'' said Bruce Knight, vice president of public policy for the National Corn Growers Association.

The growers association has warned farmers not to buy seed that has not been certified StarLink-free. Farmers also are advised to take steps to avoid contaminating their corn crops with stray StarLink plants that will sprout this spring from grain left in fields from last fall's harvest.

Food processors have been checking corn for StarLink under Food and Drug Administration guidelines that are similar to USDA's testing standards for seed.

The American Seed Trade Association was surveying its member companies to find out how much StarLink-contaminated seed they have found, said Angela Dansby, an association spokeswoman. Tainted seed is supposed to be destroyed.

``We all have a shared responsibility to address this problem, and we're certainly doing our part,'' she said.

The creator of StarLink, Aventis CropScience, has withdrawn the corn from the market but insists it is safe for people. Aventis has asked the Environmental Protection Agency to approve the corn temporarily for food use to prevent further disruptions in grain handling.

The EPA has not decided whether to do that, pending an investigation of complaints of people who think they may have had allergic reactions to the corn. A protein in StarLink, Cry9c, breaks down slowly in the digestive system, a sign that it could produce allergic reactions.