© 2001 Wendy Dager

LEAF-let: Tell us a little about the Center for Food Safety. Is it a government entity? What is its mission?

Center for Food Safety: We are a nonprofit organization at the forefront of numerous campaigns and legal challenges, promoting sustainable agriculture, fighting for strong organic food standards, and protecting consumers from the hazards of genetically engineered (GE) foods, pesticide contamination, food irradiation, and mad cow disease. LL: How does the genetically altered StarLink corn contaminate the food supply? CFS: StarLink corn has become mixed with normal corn at grain elevators and throughout the food system, mainly due to the failure of Aventis CropScience (StarLink's developer) and its seed distributor (Garst Seed Company of Iowa) to inform farmers of the need to segregate it for animal feed use only and to plant buffer strips to contain cross-pollination. Contamination has spread so far that now nearly one in ten tests of corn grain turns up positive for Cry9C (a protein). Cross-pollination is much worse than initially thought, with 80 seed companies now reporting contamination of their non-StarLink seed stock with the Cry9C gene. Volunteer Cry9C corn will also be a problem.

LL: Are there any firm studies indicating that StarLink corn is, indeed, harmful to humans?

CFS: No, but since the Cry9C protein in StarLink corn possesses six characteristic properties of food allergens, and leading independent allergy experts judge that it has a medium likelihood of being an allergen, we believe that the precautionary principle is very much called for in this case and that it should not be permitted in the food supply at any level. Also, there have been hundreds of complaints of allergic reactions to yellow corn products that may contain StarLink. This is suspicious, since regular corn is rarely allergenic. The FDA is investigating a handful of these cases. Many more people should be included in the allergy testing.

LL: Why would StarLink be approved for animal feed if humans then consume the animals?

CFS: The EPA claims that Cry9C, the suspect protein, is eventually broken down in the gut of animals such that it does not get into the bloodstream and (into) muscle tissue. Yet there are studies that show Cry9C in the bloodstream of animals fed high doses of Cry9C. The problem is its resistance to digestionboth stomach acids and stomach enzymes. This increases the chances that it can survive digestion and pass over into the bloodstream, where it might be able to cause an immunological responseand so an allergy.

LL: Should StarLink corn be banned entirely?

CFS: It is banned entirely. Aventis first withdrew, and then the EPA cancelled, Aventis license to grow StarLink. So it can no longer be grown in the United States for animal or human consumptionor anywhere else as far as I know, though Aventis is apparently trying to get it approved in South Africa.

LL: How are we affected globally by its use?

CFS: StarLink corn has been detected in corn products in Japan, in grain shipped to Korea. It will likely turn up elsewhere as more governments and food safety groups test for it overseas. StarLink is hurting farmers by exacerbating foreigners distrust of our genetically engineered food supply. U.S. corn farmers have lost $200 million in exports to Europe because of the much stricter regulations there. Losses in soybean exports have been even larger. With nearly two-thirds of the U.S. soybean crop engineered this year, and increasing difficulty in finding GMO-free soy, European countries are turning to Brazil, where Genetically Modified Organisms are banned; and other countries to find the GMO-free foods and animal feeds that consumers are demanding.

LL: What can be done?

CFS: It is important that the focus around this issue be on testing people with allergy complaints for antibodies to Cry9C, and in monitoring for additional allergy reports. There are still many uncertainties as to how much of the Cry9C protein people have been exposed to. All we have is speculation, which is not adequate enough to address the existing concerns. We still do not know how much Cry9C corn is out there, and how stringently grain handlers, elevators, and exporters are testing for contamination. The 20 or so people being tested is much too small to be representative of the exposed and potentially affected population. The FDA has not made any attempt to estimate how many people have consumed Cry9C cornroughly a million people exposed, and could be much larger. This is why monitoring for additional reports of allergic reactions to corn products was the SAP's (Scientific Advisory Panel) second priority, right after testing the existing cases. The problem is that the FDA made no systematic effort to alert or inform physicians, the allergy community, clinics or hospitals to the possibility of allergic reactions to corn, which is rarely allergenic and so not expected to cause allergies. The only alert has come sporadically and haphazardly through the media, based mainly on the efforts of watchdog groups working on a very limited testing budget.

NFPA (National Food Processors Association) cites 210 allergy reports in which yellow corn products were mentioned from September 18 to November 20, 2000. Over 70 of these people sought medical attention. Over 50 others consulted on the phone with a company-retained physician about their symptomsnot exactly an impartial judge or thorough examination. The FDA should follow up on these reports, requesting that the food companies fully disclose these cases for investigation and possible allergy testing.

The FDA needs to become proactivealert the allergy community to potentially allergenic corn, and the medical community in general. Since children are especially susceptible to allergies, special effort should be made with pediatricians. Severely food-allergic children are often put on corn-based diet because that is considered saferarely allergenic.For more information, contact The Center for Food Safety, 600 Pennsylvania Ave., SE, Suite 302, Washington, DC 20003; phone (202)547-9359; or visit www.centerforfoodsafety.org and www.foodsafetynow.org.

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