StarLink: Fallout from a Shooting Biotech Star

1
StarLink Fallout from a Shooting Biotech Star
What is StarLink? Bt corn hybrids with the Cry9C
toxin produced by Aventis Crop Sciences

• Why Use Cry9C?
• Cry9C differs from Cry1A in other B.t. corn
• Cry9C was not specifically covered by existing
  patents

approved Cry9C in May 1998 for non-food use only
because of allergenicity concerns
StarLink sold through a variety of seed dealers
in 1999 2000
2
The StarLink Controversy
anti-GMO organization Friends of the Earth found
StarLink in corn food products. Kraft Taco Bell
brand taco shells Morningstar Farm veggie corn
dogs variety of other products Tests detected
DNA, but not Cry9c protein
required recall of food products containing
StarLink
3
Agricultural Impacts of StarLink

• Temporary shut down of elevators food processors
• Loss of exports (Japan Korea)
• Aventis and USDA coordinated buyback program, 25
  cents/bushel premiums
• Starlink found in seed for 2001 planting
• Aventis CropSciences
• 1 billion in losses
• company is up for sale

4
StarLink and Food Safety

• Most StarLink found by DNA testing
• StarLink is rapidly broken down by food
  processing
• No allergic reactions to StarLink have been
  documented
• Normal exposure to StarLink in food is extremely
  low
• EPA recently reaffirmed that StarLink will not be
  approved for food use.

5
Lessons to be Learned from StarLink

• Better communication among seed producers,
  dealers, growers, commodity chain
• Exposed deficiencies in identity preservation and
  commodity segregation systems.
• Suggested improvements in the regulation of
  biotechnology products
• Long-term impacts of negative press coverage on
  agricultural biotechnology are minimal.

6
Developing Better Identity Preservation Systems
Quality Assurance by Seed Producers
On the Farm

• crop buffers
• harvest methods
• storage

• In the Commodity Handling System and during
  Processing
• at the elevator
• during transport
• maintaining segregation
• testing for purity