Author: Marc Kaufman
Publication: The Washington Post
Date: Friday, March 02, 2001

Agriculture officials yesterday told seed dealers to determine quickly how much of the nation`s corn seed stocks contain the genetically engineered variety that prompted massive recalls of food and corn crops last year.

The Agriculture Department asked the American Seed Trade Association to have the results by noon today, so that officials will know how much seed corn will have to be destroyed, and thus can determine the cost and who will pay it.

Officials said yesterday the amount of seed corn with detectable amounts of a protein from the genetically modified corn is expected to be small -- less than 5 percent. They also said precautions are in place to make sure that farmers don`t plant the tainted corn, known as StarLink.

Federal officials met for two hours yesterday at the Department of Agriculture with about 50 representatives from the seed, corn and food industries to discuss the problem. Agriculture Department spokesman Kevin Herglotz said the meeting focused on testing procedures and how federal agencies could help the seed industry deal with the StarLink issue.

``Our goal is to do what we can to prevent it from being planted,`` he said.

StarLink, developed by Aventis CropScience and approved only for animal feed, has caused regulatory and economic trouble since biotechnology critics found it in taco shells last fall. Federal agencies had approved StarLink only for animal consumption because of concerns that it might cause dangerous allergic reactions in people, though they have said the risks to human health are probably limited.

The risks to corn exporters have been great, however. Major buyers in Japan and South Korea have cut their purchases of American corn since learning that some of the corn had inadvertently been mixed with that intended for human consumption. Consumers in Europe and Japan are concerned about possible long-term environmental and health consequences of crop biotechnology.

The discovery of the genetically modified corn in the human food supply prompted a massive recall of corn and food products made with corn in this country, costing Aventis at least $100 million. It was detected in seed by dealers this year as they checked their stocks before selling to farmers for the upcoming growing season.

Seed industry officials said yesterday that they had anticipated the presence of StarLink protein in seed corn because pollen from corn is carried by wind and can crossbreed with conventional varieties.

Angela Dansby, spokeswoman for the seed trade association, said yesterday that 250 member companies will be polled about how much seed tainted with StarLink protein has been found. She said that whatever the outcome, officials expect there will be enough seed for farmers when they start planting this month.

``Discussions about StarLink have been going on for months,`` she said. ``Now a request has been made of the industry to quantify the situation, to see how much seed might have to be destroyed.``

She also said the association was working with the Agriculture Department about setting up a system to compensate seed growers who have to destroy some corn.

``Aventis has not come forward to say it will pay for it,`` she said. ``Particularly for small and medium-size companies, this is a real concern if they become victims of this situation.``

The National Corn Growers Association has told farmers to buy only corn that has been certified as free of StarLink. Those certifications, however, are based on test sampling that officials acknowledge cannot identify all of the tainted corn, and biotechnology experts say it is impossible to find corn free of genetically engineered material.