Author: ANDREW POLLACK
Publication: New York Times
Date: Tuesday, November 28, 2000

WASHINGTON, Nov. 27 — In wake of the latest incident of genetic crop contamination, American seed companies are renewing a push to establish standards that would allow a small amount of genetically engineered material in bags of seeds and still have those seeds considered free of modification.

The American Seed Trade Association maintains that with genetically modified crops now widely grown, it is virtually impossible to ensure that a bag of non- modified seeds does not have a few genetically modified ones mixed in. Insisting on absolute purity, it says, would bog down the world seed trade.

``Ultimately, we`re looking to prevent potential disruption in seed trade as a result of the presence of genetically enhanced material,`` Angela Dansby, a spokeswoman for the trade group, which represents seed producers and distributors, said today.

The trade group urged the establishment of such a so-called tolerance at a meeting held here today at the Department of Agriculture in response to last week`s discovery that the telltale protein from genetically modified StarLink corn was also found in some seed corn not sold as StarLink.

The seed contamination meant that some farmers who thought they were growing another variety would find that their crop tested positive for StarLink, which has been approved for animal use but not human consumption because of concerns it could cause allergic reactions.

While the reason for that contamination is not known, one possibility is there could have been a mix-up in seed handling at the Garst Seed Company, which produced both StarLink seeds and the seed containing the StarLink protein. Cross-pollination of one crop by the other is another possibility.

Aventis CropScience, the company that developed StarLink, said at today`s meeting that it would send a letter to all corn seed companies urging them to screen their products for the StarLink protein and offering to help in the process, according to Agriculture Department officials who attended the meeting, which was closed to the news media.

That means that seed companies will join the grain elevators, flour mills and food companies that are now testing and retesting their supplies for StarLink, which showed up in taco shells and other food products earlier this year.

A person close to Aventis confirmed the letter would be sent but said the company had no knowledge of any other cases of contamination besides the one at Garst.

The issue of ``tolerance`` for seeds is separate from the question of the threshold level that would require labeling of foods in grocery stores in countries that require such labeling.

The European Union requires labeling of a food ingredient as genetically modified if at least 1 percent of that ingredient is genetically modified. But there is no similar standard specifying what percent of seeds in a bag of nonmodified seeds can be genetically engineered without requiring the whole bag to be rejected.

The American Seed Trade Association wants that level set at 1 percent. It and counterparts in several other countries like Canada, Australia and Argentina, hope to test out this level in an experiment, Ms. Dansby said. But the European Union has been pushing for a lower, stricter standard closer to 0.5 percent. Europe has been shaken by some cases this year in which genetically modified seeds were planted by farmers who thought they were growing nonmodified crops.

The Department of Agriculture representatives at today`s meeting were noncommittal on the seed industry proposal, officials said.

On Tuesday, a scientific advisory panel to the Environmental Protection Agency will hold a hearing to consider whether to temporarily approve StarLink for human consumption. That would allow this year`s crop of StarLink corn to pass through the food system without necessitating more recalls.