StarLink corn recall
The anti-GMO activist coalition Genetically Engineered Food Alert, which detected and first reported the contamination, was critical of the FDA for not doing its job.
StarLink is a brand of transgenic maize containing two modifications: a gene for resistance to glufosinate, and a variant of the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) protein called Cry9C.
[6]: 3 As a result, PGS split its application into separate permits for use in foods intended for human consumption and for use in animal feed only.
[4]: 15 In 2000, Genetically Engineered Food Alert was launched by seven organizations (Center for Food Safety, Friends of the Earth, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, National Environmental Trust, Organic Consumers Association, Pesticide Action Network North America, and The State PIRGs) to lobby the FDA, Congress and companies to ban or stop using GMOs.
[8][9][10] One of their activities was testing food for the presence of GMOs via a lab called Genetic ID, the vice president of which was Jeffrey M.
[11][12] On September 18, 2000, Genetically Engineered Food Alert released a statement that Genetic ID had conducted tests on "Taco Bell Home Originals" brand taco shells, made by Kraft Foods that had been purchased in a grocery store near Washington, DC, and had detected StarLink;[13] the story was reported on by The Washington Post.
The Texas mill used flour from six states supplied by elevators that did not segregate their genetically modified and conventionally-grown corn at the time.
[15][16][17] "All of us—government, industry and the scientific community—need to work on ways to prevent this kind of situation from ever happening again," said Betsy Holden, Kraft's chief executive in September 2000.
[32] The CDC studied the blood of these 28 individuals and concluded there was no evidence the reactions these people experienced were associated with hypersensitivity to the StarLink Bt protein.
Margaret Gadsby of Aventis was quoted with her earlier statement, "We have difficulty imagining how our corn could end up in the human food supply."
