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A top executive at Aventis
CropScience, maker of StarLink
Corn, said that the food supply
will never be rid of the new strain of corn that the company
genetically engineered at Research Triangle Park. The executive, John
Wichtrich, called for a change in federal regulations to allow some level
of the engineered StarLink corn in human food. The product is now approved
only for animal feed and industrial products such as ethanol.
But the environmental watchdog who first discovered the new corn in food
objected sharply. "Aventis broke the promise of biotechnology,"
said Larry Bohlen of Friends of the Earth in Washington, D.C. "They
were supposed to improve the quality of our food, not cause so many problems
and introduce so much risk."
Wichtrich, general manager of Aventis in RTP, said that 437 million
additional bushels of StarLink have been found in storage, which
is much more than previously thought. About 50 million bushels of
StarLink corn were grown under license during 2000, and Starlink
was inadvertently mixed into another 20 million bushels. Last fall,
Bohlen discovered StarLink corn
in Kraft taco shells at a Maryland grocery store. The discovery
led to a recall of almost 300 food products. Now, Wichtrich said,
"no matter how diligent our collective efforts are, we can
never get to, or guarantee, 'zero.' "
Because the StarLink corn can never be cleaned out of the U.S. food supply,
Wichtrich said, Aventis wants the Environmental Protection Agency to change
its rules. The EPA now has a "zero-tolerance" policy, meaning
it views any amount of the StarLink corn in the U.S. food supply as a
violation.
One kernel of StarLink corn in a sample of 2,400 kernels would cause a
load of corn to be rejected, Wichtrich said. EPA should give Aventis an
exception or revise its policy to tolerate a certain level of StarLink
in food, he said. But Bohlen said, "Aventis
is asking the government to legalize genetic pollution."
Until the Centers for Disease Control finishes its study, no one will
know whether the StarLink corn causes allergic reactions, he said.
CDC is investigating the claims of 44 people who said they got sick after
eating corn products, he said. Wichtrich said only dry-milled corn products
-- those made from corn meal, grits and flour -- are in danger of being
contaminated. Wet milling, which produces corn syrup and oil, kills the
protein, he said. Aventis, which employs 550 people at its North America
headquarters in RTP, has taken hundreds of angry phone calls from farmers,
grain elevator managers and food processors.
Aventis has 87 people working
on rerouting the corn, and another group of scientists looking into the
allergy question, Wichtrich said.
Organic
Consumers Association March 2002
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