EPA Issues Preliminary Assessment of Starlink® Under Pressure from Aventis

Washington, DC – In a preliminary review of Starlink® corn issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday, the agency questioned the safety of genetically engineered corn, citing that questions remain unanswered about potential allergen risk.

Starlink®, the genetically engineered corn not approved by the U.S. government for human consumption, showed up in taco shells and tortilla products around the country, forcing recalls by companies such as Kraft Foods and Mission Foods and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this fall. The corn was developed by Aventis CropScience and used for animal feed after the EPA refused Aventis¹ petitions to approve the corn for use in food products in 1998.

EPA has announced that it will expedite a review process of "new" data that Aventis claims proves Starlink® corn is not a human food allergen and safe for consumption. EPA originally reviewed Starlink® corn over the course of a two-year period and was unable to determine if Starlink® was a food allergen or not. In EPA¹s most recent assessment, the agency criticizes aspects of Aventis¹ data, asserting at one point that the studies had "no scientific basis to conclude whether Cry9C [the protein found in Starlink® corn] behaves in the same manner" as other allergens.

According to news reports, Aventis could be liable for hundreds of millions of dollars of losses from farmers, grain mills, food suppliers, and food producers. The company has repetitioned the EPA to approve Starlink® for human consumption.

Now the EPA, under pressure from Aventis, will make a determination in only a matter of weeks on whether Starlink® will be allowed into the human food supply for the next for the next four years.

"This whole process is questionable" stated Phil Clapp, President of the National Environmental Trust, "The review process that EPA has set up is for show, and clearly not the appropriate scientific process that EPA has previously used. Aventis is looking for a way off the liability hook and EPA is giving it to them."

EPA has set a deadline of December 1, 2000 for a determination on Starlink® genetically engineered corn, allowing for a six-week review process of the bioengineered corn. The agency has convened a scientific review panel to meet on November 28, in order to gain expert opinion on the health and safety of Starlink®. In the assessment put out yesterday, the agency noted that many substantial questions remain unanswered.

"Convening an advisory panel three days before the assessment is going to come out is hardly sound fact-finding practice," stated Larry Bohlen, Health and Environment Program Director at Friends of the Earth.

The Genetically Engineered Food Alert coalition delivered a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday citing irregularities and potential violations of public law as the EPA moves too rapidly to review Aventis CropScience data. The coalition is calling for an extension of the review process. Recently recalled store products could be right back on grocery store shelves, according to the Genetically Engineered Food Alert coalition, if EPA rams through approval of Starlink® genetically engineered corn.

According to the letter, "Although the EPA received Aventis CropScience's petition on October 25, 2000 and published notice of this on October 31, 2000, most of the information relevant to the petition was not in the docket at that time. Some of the information was received by the EPA on October 27, and some not until November 2."

"The EPA failed us by starting the clock before all the Aventis data was entered into the docket," said Joseph Mendelson, III, Legal Director at the Center for Food Safety. "The government appears to be favoring the biotech company over the public."