SEPTEMBER 26, 15:34 EDT Co. Stops Selling Biotech Corn By PHILIP BRASHER AP Farm Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The developer of a gene-altered variety of corn linked to a massive recall of taco shells is stopping sales of the seed until the government approves its use in food. Aventis CropScience said Tuesday that it will take steps to assure that the corn being harvested this fall does not get into food channels. ``We just think that until we can get all this resolved, the fairest thing for food companies and the consuming public is to stop sales,'' said Rick Rountree, a spokesman for Aventis. The corn, known as StarLink, is allowed only in animal feed because of unresolved questions about its potential for causing allergies in humans. It is one of eight varieties of biotech corn now on the market and the only one not approved for food. Kraft Foods recalled millions of packages of taco shells that are sold in stores under the Taco Bell name after tests showed that some were made with the Aventis variety. Taco Bell Corp. said it is similarly replacing all of the shells in their restaurants later this week. In the wake of the recall, the Biotechnology Industry Organization said the government should not allow commercial marketing of grain crops that are not allowed in food. Exceptions should be made for crops that have no food use, said the group, which represents biotech companies. The National Corn Growers Association on Monday asked Aventis to stop sales of StarLink corn. Aventis, based in Research Triangle Park, N.C., has not conceded that its corn was even in the taco shells. Genetic material from other ingredients in the taco shell could have triggered a false positive test result, so the company is working on developing a testing method that would be more accurate, Rountree said. The StarLink corn, which was grown on about 0.4 percent of U.S. corn acreage this year, contains a bacterium gene that makes it toxic to an insect pest. A special protein in the corn can be slower for people to digest, but scientists disagree as to whether that indicates it would induce an allergic reaction. The Environmental Protection Agency approved the crop for commercial use in 1998 with the condition that it not be put in food. Critics of biotechnology have seized on the Kraft recall as evidence that federal regulation of genetically engineered crops is inadequate and that there isn't enough known about their potential to cause allergies. The recall ``pointed out the significant weaknesses in our regulatory system,'' Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Boxer is sponsoring legislation that would require the labeling of foods that have biotech ingredients. Officials with the Food and Drug Administration say that existing controls on gene-altered crops are adequate, but they are working on new rules that they say will give consumers more assurance. The new rules, to be released later this fall, will require mandatory safety reviews of new biotech products. The Kraft recall ``reinforces the importance of FDA, EPA and other interested parties to be vigilant in assuring that the rules pertaining to bioengineered foods are being fully adhered to,'' said Joseph Leavitt, director of FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. FDA has refused to require the labeling of foods with biotech ingredients, but it is writing guidelines for companies to follow if they want to market foods as biotech-free. Those labels are being tested with consumer focus groups to ensure they don't connote that biotech-free foods are superior to products with gene-altered ingredients, Leavitt told the Senate committee. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
