StarLink Scandal

On September 18, 2000, a coalition of environmental and food safety groups known as Genetically Engineered Food Alert (GEFood Alert) announced that Taco Bell brand taco shells, produced by Kraft Foods (a subsidiary of Philip Morris) were contaminated with an illegal variety of genetically engineered corn, known as StarLink. The discovery was made when GE Food Alert sent samples of various taco shells to an independent laboratory for testing. The tests have since been confirmed by Kraft and the FDA. StarLink, developed by the biotech giant Aventis, was approved for animal feed, but not for human consumption because of questions about its potential to cause allergies.

These concerns are related to an insecticidal protein produced in StarLink corn that is resistant to heat and the stomach’s gastric juices, characteristics common to many food allergens. This protein, which is found in StarLink corn kernels at 10 to 400 times the level of related proteins in similar GE corn, has never before existed in the human diet. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 8% of all U.S. children are now plagued by food allergies.

After the initial discovery, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Aventis moved to buy the remaining StarLink corn from farmers in an attempt to prevent more of it from entering the human food chain. However, USDA recently said that as much as 9.6 million bushels of StarLink had yet to be accounted for. Aventis failed to inform farmers of the restrictions related to StarLink, and as a result, some StarLink was mixed with other types of corn.

On October 11, GE Food Alert announced that Safeway brand taco shells also tested positive for Starlink, and the following day Mission Foods Co., the nation's largest manufacturer of tortilla products, recalled all of its corn tortillas, taco shells and snack chips. A third product, Western Family brand corn tacos also tested positive for StarLink on October 25, and by early November more than 300 products had been recalled by FDA. (A complete list can be found at www.safetyalerts.com/recall/f/00/023261.htm).

In the wake of the StarLink crisis, some of the largest U.S. food and animal feed processors, Kellogg, ConAgra, and Archer Daniels Midland, have either temporarily closed their grain mills or announced mandatory testing for StarLink corn. Tyson Foods, the largest poultry producer in the U.S., announced that StarLink will not even be fed to their chickens.

The StarLink controversy has also spread around the world. On October 24, an entire 55,000 ton shipload of U.S. corn destined for Japan was rejected after testing positive for StarLink. On Oct. 27 the USDA announced that they would let U.S. grain exporters ship contaminated corn to international markets, despite pending lawsuits from consumers who claim to have had allergic reactions after eatin StarLink-contaminated products.

On October 31^st, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that Aventis had presented new data that would prove that StarLink is safe for human consumption and should therefore not be treated any differently than any other corn. In its preliminary assessment of these new data, the EPA stated that it "still questions whether or not Cry9C [the insecticidal protein] is or is not an allergen." EPA is therefore convening a scientific advisory panel to review the matter and advise it on whether to grant a temporary approval of StarLink corn for human consumption. The panel will meet in Washington, DC on November 28 and issue its recommendations by December 1, 2000

You can submit comments to EPA until November 27, 2000. For more information, visit the Center for Food Safety at www.foodsafetynow.org or download a postcard or letter from the GE Food Alert Web site at www.gefoodalert.org/pickup.

If you would like more detailed background information on StarLink you can download a fact sheet at www.gefoodalert.org/recall