Safe Food: The Politics of Food Safety Read Online Free PDF Page A

Consumer groups identify StarLink in Safeway taco shells; Safeway issues recall. Aventis “voluntarily” withdraws EPA registration of StarLink. Mission Foods recalls 298 products distributed in the United States, Canada, and Korea; other companies also issue recalls. Kellogg closes U.S. factory because its supplier mills have no corn. Aventis petitions EPA to permit StarLink in existing foods on basis that amounts are too low to cause allergies; EPA asks for comments. USDA says it has traced all but 1.2 million bushels (1.5%) of StarLink produced in 2000. Japan finds StarLink in imported U.S. corn.
 
November
Aventis says it will sell its CropScience division, reports “traces” of StarLink protein in conventional corn produced in 1998. American Seed Trade Association says it cannot guarantee that corn is free of genetic modification, asks USDA to approve a tolerance level of 1%. USDA tells EPA advisory committee that it cannot locate 7 million bushels (11%) of StarLink corn. More than 40 people report allergic reactions to StarLink corn products. EPA committee says StarLink protein has “medium likelihood” of being allergenic but “low probability” of causing problems from food.
2000
December
EPA is reported to know since 1997 that StarLink is in the human food supply. Farmers file class action suit against Aventis for not warning them that StarLink was restricted to animal feed. Japan finds 28,000 tons of StarLink corn in food supply.
2001
February
Aventis fires president, vice-president, and chief counsel of CropScience division; company says the StarLink recall cost nearly $100 million.
 
March
Aventis reports that 430 million bushels of stored corn from 1999 contain traces of StarLink. USDA reports traces of StarLink in non-StarLink seeds intended for planting in 2001. EPA says it will never issue another split registration. Green-peace finds StarLink in Kellogg products, demands recall; Kellogg complies.
 
April
Aventis asks EPA to set tolerance limit on the amount of StarLink permitted in the human food supply.
 
June
CDC and FDA find no evidence of antibodies to StarLink protein in stored blood samples from people who reported allergic reactions. FDA finds no evidence of StarLink gene in yellow corn products but does find the gene in one sample of white corn tortilla chips.
 
July
EPA advisory panel confirms December 2000 judgment that StarLink could be allergenic. Corn growers reduce acres planted in genetically modified seeds.
 
September
Bayer said to be buying Aventis CropScience for $5 billion and to assume $1.7 billion in debt. U.S. consumer group, Center for Food Safety, obtains Freedom of Information Act information that Aventis knew in 1999—and told EPA in January 2000—that farmers were selling StarLink for use in human food.
 
December
Canada reports that keeping StarLink out of its food supply cost its government nearly $1 million.
2002
March
Federal judge approves $9 million settlement of farmers’ class-action suit against companies involved in StarLink production and distribution.
 
June
Bayer completes purchase of Aventis CropScience; forms Bayer CropScience; divests interests in Starlink.
 
October
GeneScan Australia reports traces of StarLink in one-third of test food samples.
    SOURCES :
Food Traceability Report. StarLink: Lessons Learned
. Washington, DC: FCN Publishing, 2001. Taylor MR, Tick JS.
The StarLink Case: Issues for the Future
. Washington, DC: Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology, October 2001. Online: www.pewagbiotech.org . Also: various reports from the
New York Times
, the
Washington Post, Food Chemical News
, and the Environmental Protection Agency ( www.epa.gov/scipoly/sap ).
    * StarLink ™ is corn genetically engineered to contain a protein called Cry9C from a species of bacteria,
Bacillus thuringiensis
(
Bt
), toxic to corn borers and other insect pests.
    To return to our story: in 1997, Plant Genetic Systems (soon to be AgrEvo) applied to the EPA for a