What is in this article?:
- More bad news for organic advocates as USDA deregulates GM corn
- Shrinking corn reserves
Recent decision on Syngenta Seeds'GM corn for ethanol production further threatens organic industry and manufacturers.
On the heels of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's recent decision to deregulate genetically modified alfalfa, organic advocates received another blow Friday when the agency announced it would also deregulate industrial corn used for ethanol production.
Despite objections from scientists, food millers and food processors, Syngenta Seeds, which developed the corn, received the green light to make its Enogen seed available to growers for the upcoming season and for larger scale commercial planting by 2012.
Organic advocates fear GE ethanol corn will eventually contaminate corn intended for human consumption and further threaten the organic industry.
“The USDA’s decision defies common sense,” said Margaret Mellon, director of the Food and Environment Program for the Union of Concerned Scientists in a release. “There is no way to protect food corn crops from contamination by ethanol corn. Even with the most stringent precautions, the wind will blow and standards will slip. In this case, there are no required precautions.”
Bill Freese, science policy analyst at the Center for Food Safety, wrote on the organization's website, "Syngenta's biofuel corn will inevitably contaminate food-grade corn, and could well trigger substantial rejection in our corn export markets, hurting farmers."