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Tainted soybeans delivered to Neb. (Friday, Nov. 15, 2002 -- CropChoice news) --
AP: About 500 bushels of soybeans contaminated with genetically
engineered corn were delivered to a Nebraska grain elevator, delivering a blow to a
biotechnology industry still reeling from a similar contamination two years ago.
The Omaha World-Herald reported Thursday the soybeans
were hauled to Aurora Cooperative Elevator Co., about 100
miles west of Omaha, within the last six weeks and had been
contaminated with the remnants of a test plot of experimental
corn.
The Food and Drug Administration
announced Tuesday it would order Prodigene Inc. to destroy
the entire 500,000-bushel soybean pile — worth an estimated
$2.7 million — at its own expense. None of the soybeans made
it into the food supply, so there is no risk to the public, FDA
Deputy Commissioner Lester Crawford said.
The announcement comes just weeks after Prodigene joined several biotech companies in
agreeing not to grow genetically engineered corn intended for drug development in places
where it could contaminate neighboring fields planted with crops for human consumption.
It also follows a massive recall two years ago when the StarLink brand of genetically engineered
corn, approved solely for animal feed, turned up in taco shells.
Neil Harl, an Iowa State University agriculture economist, called the Nebraska contamination "an
early warning shot across the bow" for a biotechnology industry trying to create vaccines and
other products by altering genes in plants. "We have to ramp up our regulatory effort to assure
that other incidents do not occur, and there is no gene-flow out of fields that are producing
biotech crops."
U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors traced the apparent contamination
to volunteer corn that sprouted and grew in the soybean field this year, spokesman Jim Rogers
said. Inspectors estimated about one ounce of corn leaves and stalks was chopped up during
the harvest and intermingled with the soybeans.
One acre of the field served as an experimental plot for ProdiGene last year, and the volunteer
corn came from that.
"As soon as a concern was raised, we buttoned it up," Harlan Schafer, the elevator's interim
general manager, told the World-Herald.
Prodigene is attempting to grow different medications, from hepatitis B vaccine to an
insulin-making enzyme, inside the kernels of genetically modified corn.
ProdiGene officials did not immediately return a phone call left Wednesday night at their offices. | |
