What does this tell us? The food supply will never be rid of the new strain of corn that the company genetically engineered, according to Aventis.
---

Biotech Firm Executive Says Genetically Engineered Corn Is Here to Stay
20 Mar 2001
Knight Ridder/Tribune

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."  Where did Monsatan's potatoes go?