[Corp. Watch] USDA proposing first industrial-use "Frankencrop"

[Corporation Watch]

USDA Proposes First-Ever Industrial Genetically Engineered Crop

  By Bill Freese

(Center for Food Safety, Jan. 14) -- The U.S. Department of  
Agriculture (USDA) is poised to deregulate the world's first  
genetically engineered (GE) industrial crop. Similar to GE  
pharmaceutical crops that use corn to produce drugs, Syngenta's "Event  
3272" is genetically engineered to use corn for energy (ethanol)  
production rather than food.

	This unprecedented, industrial application of a GE technology poses a  
variety of environmental, health, and economic risks that must be  
carefully evaluated to determine whether the widespread use of this GE  
industrial corn crop should be allowed on farms across our nation.

	In a "business as usual" move, USDA has fast-tracked the  
commercialization of this GE industrial corn and has forgone  
conducting a full environmental impact study (EIS), as required by law.

	Instead, USDA is basing its decision to approve the industrial GE  
corn upon a shorter assessment that falls woefully short of the  
thorough review the law requires before a new GE crop is approved.

	Moreover, USDA has failed to acknowledge that this GE technology  
requires even greater scrutiny since it transforms a ubiquitous food  
crop -- corn -- into an industrial crop (ethanol), making it no longer  
fit for human consumption.

	The Obama administration's USDA must complete a full EIS to address  
these concerns, but the agency is accepting public comments only until  
January 20, 2009 -- inauguration day.

	Event 3272 corn contains an exotic enzyme derived from  
"thermophilic" (heat-loving) microorganisms living near deep sea  
hydrothermal vents. The enzyme, alpha-amylase, breaks down starches  
into complex sugars.

	Syngenta's alpha amylase is generated at extremely high levels in the  
corn kernels themselves for the purpose of eliminating one step in  
ethanol production and save a little money.

	The trouble is that this enzyme might be capable of causing food  
allergies in people who inadvertently consume this corn. Humans have  
never been exposed to this form of alpha amylase before. But, we know  
some versions of this enzyme (from fungi) cause respiratory allergies,  
which are closely related to food allergies.

	Syngenta's corn-embedded enzyme has two characteristic properties of  
food allergens: it's extremely resistant to breakdown by heat, and it  
tolerates somewhat acidic conditions. Thus it will likely survive food  
processing and may withstand gastric juices intact, which means a  
higher likelihood of triggering allergic reactions.

	Despite the fact that this GE corn is meant strictly for industrial  
use, USDA admits that if Event 3272 corn is intentionally or  
accidentally diverted into the food supply, it could negatively impact  
food quality.

	And there's no doubt Event 3272 will enter the food supply. Corn  
cross-pollinates at great distances, and there are absolutely no  
requirements to plant this industrial corn away from food-grade corn.

	Instead of reviewing the foreseeable negative impacts of biological  
contamination on organic and conventional corn from Event 3272 corn,  
USDA has merely relied on Syngenta, the creator of the GE corn, to  
protect non-industrial corn from contamination.

	If we have learned anything from the StarLink corn episode, it is  
that voluntary, industry-led agreements to curtail contamination do  
not work in the real world. StarLink was a GE corn variety approved  
only for animal feed, not the human food supply, because leading  
allergists said it might cause food allergies.

	Despite grower agreements and voluntary stewardship measures, it  
massively contaminated the food supply -- costing farmers, food  
companies, and taxpayers millions of dollars in recalls and lost sales.

	This experience, along with other contamination episodes, showed us  
that weather, pollen flow, and basic human error are simply  
unavoidable once GE crops are released in the open environment.

	To approve another non-food corn crop based solely on Syngenta's word  
that they will police themselves is irresponsible and ignores the  
realities of farming, food production, human error, and basic ecology.

	Thus far, none of our major corn export markets have cleared Event  
3272 for import and, therefore, any corn shipments contaminated with  
Event 3272 are likely to be rejected by Japan, Korea and other GE- 
sensitive markets.

	So why is USDA even considering going down this road again?  In the  
draft approval document APHIS claims that Event 3272 corn is needed  
"to help the U.S. meet its goals for ethanol production."

	Yet Congress's targets for ethanol production in the Energy Policy  
Act of 2005 and the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 have  
already surpassed the 2012 target (7.5 billion gallons) in 2007 (8.2  
billion gallons).

	And with 10 billion gallons of ethanol produced in 2008, we're well  
on the way to achieving the mandate for 2022 without the introduction  
of Event 3272 corn.

	The dramatic worldwide surge in food prices last year -- which  
unfortunately has already pushed 100 million more of the world's poor  
into hunger and poverty -- has caused a radical and necessary  
rethinking of biofuels.

	Food experts from academia to the World Bank have decried the massive  
diversion of corn from food to fuel, blaming it for at least part of  
the steep price increases in food staples like corn, wheat, and rice.

	Unbelievable as it may seem, U.S. farmers devoted a full 23 percent  
of the 13 billion-bushel corn harvest to ethanol production in 2007  
and in 2008, that percentage rose to 30 percent.

	Event 3272 poses unacceptable risks to human health, the environment,  
and the economic well-being of farmers, and is not needed to meet U.S.  
biofuel production targets.

	And even if it were, the food crisis makes painfully clear what  
should have been obvious all along: that diverting stupendous  
quantities of staple food crops (i.e., 30 percent of U.S. corn) to  
feed automobiles has dramatically increased the price not only of  
corn, but also of all primary staple crops driving hunger throughout  
the world.