Unfit for humans
Corn has been contaminated with a potentially harmful
protein (Cry9C)
A PESTICIDE gene only approved for use in maize for animal feed may have
jumped into a corn variety destined for people.
The discovery comes just two months after StarLink corn, which was
engineered to contain the gene, turned up in foods such as taco shells,
sparking a recall of about 800 different products in the US.
The gene's product, Cry9C, makes maize more resistant to the European corn
borer. Because of concerns that the protein might cause an allergic reaction
in humans, StarLink can only be fed to animals. But Aventis CropScience, which
developed StarLink, has now found traces in another variety.
"Aventis CropScience does not know how Cry9C protein came to be present in
a variety other than StarLink brand seeds," the company says in a press
release.
