Experts Say Bioengineered Corn May Have Caused a Number of Allergic Reactions.
Dec. 5, 2000 (Washington) -- A panel of experts convened to advise the EPA whether it should proceed with the retroactive approval of StarLink corn for human consumption told federal authorities Tuesday that it believed the corn may have caused allergic reactions in about seven people in the U.S.
StarLink is a bioengineered form of corn that was approved in 1998 for use as animal feed alone but has since accidentally contaminated a part of the nation's corn supply.
Aventis Crop Sciences, its maker, wants the EPA to grant StarLink a temporary approval for human consumption in order to avoid a recall that could affect as many as seven million bushels of corn. Although the company already has withdrawn the seeds from the market, the approval would provide sufficient time for those seven million bushels of corn to be processed, shipped, sold, and consumed.
The subsidiary of the Franco-German conglomerate, Aventis SA, made its case at a recent public meeting, at which it contended that the corn did not represent a threat to human health. But concerns have lingered on the parts of some federal regulators and activists alike.
StarLink corn contains a gene that helps the plant fight pests as it grows. The gene produces a protein, Cry9C, which exhibits some traits common to known allergens, or products that cause some people to have an allergic reaction.
Aventis Crop Sciences contends that animal studies and comparisons with other products known to cause allergic reactions show that Cry9C is unlikely to be an allergen. It also says the amount of StarLink corn currently on the market is so little that it could not trigger an allergic reaction even if Cry9C is proven to be an allergen.
The EPA supports the company's view that the overall potential exposure to Cry9C is extremely low -- in the range of parts per billion or trillion even for the most highly exposed individuals. But the EPA has questioned whether Cry9C has the potential to cause allergic reactions.
In its report, the panel said that more data was needed to establish a link, but "there is agreement that a number of these reports are likely to reflect true allergic reactions." The panel also said that it was "highly doubtful" that a lot more StarLink corn would be found in the U.S. food supply, especially in light of the recent withdrawal.