GM contamination compensation deal
GM contamination compensation deal
By Andrew Blake and Stephen Leahy
CONTAMINATION of last autumns US maize stocks with a GM variety approved for animal feed and industrial uses only is likely to cost the company behind the novelty crop dearly.
Under a four-year deal between Aventis CropScience and the attorney generals of 17 US states, disadvantaged growers will receive up to £6.74/t (25 cents/bushel) in compensation. The company is also exploring ways to reimburse affected grain handlers and others in the food chain on a case by case basis, says an Aventis spokeswoman.
Last weeks agreement follows a lawsuit by Illinois farmer Raymond Mulholland, even though he did not plant StarLink maize.
Mr Mulholland contended that his crops, and those of many non-StarLink maize growers, were contaminated by the GM variety either through cross pollination or during grain handling.
The suit also claimed that StarLink contamination concerns closed foreign markets and depressed the US grain maize price domestically and abroad.
Marvin Kramer, a farmer from Cedar Rapids, filed a similar suit on behalf of Iowa maize growers.
Iowa attorney general Tom Miller is reported as estimating that last weeks deal, authorised by the US Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration, could cost Aventis $100m-$1bn.
While less than 141,000ha (350,000 acres) of the USs 28.7ha (71m acres) of maize were sown with StarLink last year, a senior executive with US trader Archer Daniels is quoted as saying the affair has set the biotech industry back five years.
StarLink maize includes the Cry9C bacterial gene which codes for a protein that produces toxins to kill European corn borer pests. It was approved in 1998 for use in the US only in animal feed and for industrial purposes, out of concern that the protein might set off allergies in humans.
Its discovery in the US food supply last autumn led to a recall of millions of taco shells and other products. More recently it was found in Japanese food grade maize.
Many farmers say they were never told StarLink was a restricted variety which should not be mixed with other varieties nor that 200m buffers were needed to prevent cross-pollination.
The USFDA has recommended grain millers test for StarLink. All over the country maize-laden trucks, rail cars and river barges are being monitored for the Cry9C protein. Many are being re-routed by inspectors if a home pregnancy-style test kit shows the maize is not fit for human consumption.
Standards are high. If Cry9C is found in one kernel in 400, the entire shipment is relocated.
"Millions of test kits are being used and Aventis is paying for them all," says a company spokeswoman.
"At its heart its a technical/ regulatory matter, not a food safety issue."
In future the company will seek only dual human and livestock feed approvals, she says. "Knowing what we know today, we realise that we should not have accepted split registration for StarLink corn," Aventis vice-president John Wichtrich said recently. *
STARLINKMAIZE
• GM contamination lawsuit.
• Four-year compensation programme.
• Aventis working to resolve.
• Payments may reach $1bn.
• Split registration abandoned.