Biotech Company Admits StarLink Contamination Is Forever

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Biotech Company Admits StarLink Contamination Is Forever

 

http://www.purefood.org/ge/starlinkforever.cfm

 

StarLink Contamination is Forever

 

Knight Ridder/Tribune 3-22-1 A top Aventis CropScience

executive said Sunday 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 corn, known as StarLink,

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, apologized for

the debacle Sunday in a speech to the North American Millers

Association in San Antonio. Wichtrich 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.

 

The company has spent tens of millions of dollars to fix the

problem, he said. It has rerouted 28,135 trucks, 15,005 rail

cars and 285 barges, he said. Aventis has said that 384 of

the more than 340,000 acres of StarLink corn are in North

Carolina. Wichtrich also said Aventis still plans to spin

off Aventis CropScience as a separate company in summer or

early fall. Bohlen said EPA's answer to Aventis' plea for

new rules will shape national policy on allowing genetically

engineered crops into the food we eat. " This, " he said, " is

a pivotal moment in the history of biotechnology. "