Posted on: Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Modified corn sold to farmers for 4 years

By Seth Borenstein
Knight Ridder News Service

WASHINGTON — The federal government kept it secret for three months that genetically modified corn seed was sold accidentally to some U.S. farms for four years and may have gotten into the American food supply.

The accidental use of unapproved seed became public when the scientific journal Nature published a story about it yesterday.

The corn seed was probably safe. America's food supply and plant and animal stocks weren't harmed and remain safe to eat, according to officials of the seed company and the federal government.

But the government's secrecy about the mistake — one affecting the public food supply — raises serious concerns, according to independent experts.

Spokesmen for the Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency said there was no need to notify the public because the government had determined that the corn was safe.

In addition, the USDA is investigating the whole incident involving the seed company, which faces up to $500,000 in fines, Agriculture Department spokesman Jim Rogers said.

"We're gathering evidence that we may need in front of a judge," Rogers said.

"If there was a health risk, you would have heard about it and there would have been a recall."

Syngenta, a Swiss-based company, distributed the unapproved genetically altered corn seed, called Bt 10.

"Most of the corn is used for industrial and animal use," Syngenta spokeswoman Sarah Hull said. "It may have gotten into the food supply, but regardless, the proteins are deemed safe and there's no food concern."