THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR / November 05, 2000
From crop producers to restaurants, the issue of gene-altered crops has become ... A growing concern
BY NORM HEIKENS STAFF WRITER
Gary Reding likes genetically modified crops.
Biotech crops help farmers control weeds and insects, and they hold enormous potential for improving human health and nutrition.
But the Greensburg farmer avoided planting the seeds this year for the first time since he began using them in the mid-'90s.
Reding sells to Japanese and U.S. processors specialty crops that have zero tolerance for genetic engineering -- not one bean or kernel. His fears finally overcame his affinity for the benefits.
"I can't afford to risk contamination," Reding says.
As food producers from farm to processor weigh their ability to keep crops separate, they're uneasy with what they see.
They also are moving to protect themselves from potential lawsuits against each other and from angry consumers.
Farmers, grain elevators, shippers and processors built a system to quickly move billions of bushels of commodity corn and soybeans, not pure, specialized batches of either crop.
"We are not totally geared up or sensitized to keep things segregated," says Marshall Martin, a Purdue University expert on genetic engineering.
Dirk Maier, a Purdue agricultural engineer specializing in crop segregation, goes a step further. The system can be managed to keep crops pure, Maier emphasizes. But someday, somewhere, a mistake is bound to happen.
"Even if the system is perfect in handling the grain, there is that human factor," Maier warns. "There are too many points in the supply chain where these mistakes can occur."
Front-page news
The contamination issue boiled to a head in September when StarLink, a corn modified to resist an insect and two herbicides, was found in taco shells.
StarLink is the first hybrid approved for animal consumption but not for humans. It since has been found in Japan, where it is banned.
StarLink's creator, French-owned Aventis CropScience, has launched a massive search for the corn across farms, grain elevators and processors, an effort estimated to cost upward of $1 billion. Aventis also says it won't sell the seed next year.
While biotech opponents fear some people might be allergic to StarLink, it hasn't been proved harmful to humans.
The industry watches segregation issues with interest out of concern for the system's integrity.
If a buyer thinks it is getting a particular crop, for instance, it should have assurances the shipment isn't contaminated, whether it's biotech or not.
Most StarLink was planted in the western Corn Belt, not in Indiana, where the corn borer insect is more prevalent.
Nevertheless, links in the food-to-consumer chain are examining their exposure to lawsuits for mistakes with StarLink or any biotech crop.
Farmers are less worried than agribusiness.
Roger Hadley II allocates half his corn acreage to non-StarLink strains that protect against insects.
The Fort Wayne-area grower believes farmers are safe in numbers. Equipment is so difficult to clean, and pollen blows so far, that virtually none of the so-called segregated grains actually are pure, he says. So any lawsuit likely would rope in all farmers, he predicts.
"Farmers have found that, on paper, they can segregate it," Hadley says. "In reality, they cannot."
Reding frets more about getting caught in a contract dispute with a processor than with consumers, because biotech crops haven't been shown to be harmful to humans.
Elevators are no easy fix either.
Elevators aren't equipped to easily handle the varied batches of biotech crops, says Cresswell Hizer, president of the Indiana Grain and Feed Association, a trade group.
"The economies just did not reward building a bunch of small" bins, Hizer says. "You don't have to be a Ph.D. economist to realize it's going to be a lot more expensive for handling."
Don Jernas hung a sign at Creighton Brothers elevator in Warsaw denying StarLink deliveries.
Virtually all the corn it buys is turned into livestock feed, so the elevator isn't as concerned as others about contaminating human food, Jernas says.
Creighton Brothers turns away StarLink because it occasionally ships out corn rather than selling it as feed.
Yet, Jernas says, contamination risk is so low that the elevator doesn't test.
"In reality, somebody could send us some and we'd not know it," he says, but, "Normally you have the same customers year after year, and you get a rapport. We can trust our customers."
Soybeans are of little concern because processors accept both biotech and conventional varieties.
Testing the courts
Liability will be a seminar topic at the Indiana Seed Trade Association annual convention this week.
Phillip Bainbridge, an Indianapolis attorney slated to speak to the seed company representatives, says he has yet to see a biotech-related lawsuit, but he expects them.
How they will be resolved is another matter.
"It's so new," Bainbridge says. "We're not positive who has the most exposure."
Bainbridge has little difficulty imagining questions:
What if a seed company is in an area of a town where hazardous activity is prohibited, and the city council decides genetic engineering is hazardous and must be shut down?
Could pollen from biotech fields be moved by bees to weeds in a nonbiotech field, then the farmer with the nonbiotech field fail to kill the weeds without destroying his crop? And could an environmental group sue the biotech farmer if birds were hurt after eating infected bees?
Will histories of biotechnology use be required before land can be sold?
What if a woman gives birth to a child with physical problems she blames on bread made from biotech grain? If she successfully sues the bakery, farmer, elevator, processor, transporter, seed company or the testing company -- or all of them -- can they in turn sue each other?
Bainbridge emphasizes his thoughts are hypothetical.
Still, he advises the grain industry to think through the possibilities because disputes likely will spill into the courts.
Scott Nohren also expects the courts to step in. Nohren oversees loss control at Grain Dealers Mutual Insurance Co., an Indianapolis firm that underwrites policies for elevators in 17 states, including Indiana.
Grain Dealers Mutual has yet to receive its first biotech-related claim.
"We don't know what the effect will be," Nohren says. "It's a really cloudy issue."
Farmers' precautions
Farmers rarely ask about liability, says Indiana Farm Bureau natural resources specialist Brian Daggy.
"This is a new area for farmers to think about," he says. "They've just thought about it in terms of getting their premiums."
Farm Bureau, the state's largest farm organization, will roll out seminars on the topic in a year or two, Daggy predicts.
Whether to gain premiums or to stay out of court, farmers are asking more of farm equipment makers.
John Deere, which makes half the combines sold in North America, sees increasing focus-group interest in machines that are easier to clean. Combines can hide one to two bushels in nooks and crannies, and require several hours to clean thoroughly, says Kim Cramer, a Deere marketing representative.
Farmers are loathe to devote the time during the harvest rush, but nevertheless must to avoid contamination.
Reding, the Greensburg farmer, complains of spending half a day cleaning his combine between crops. He doubts consumers are willing to pay enough for food to ensure crops are kept truly pure.
Current biotech premiums are about 10 cents a bushel for corn and 20 cents for soybeans. A farmer would need at least 60 cents a bushel to justify thoroughly cleaning everything -- combines, trucks and wagons, augers, bins and other equipment, Reding says.
Observers ranging from farmers to academics hope lawsuits can be short-circuited, with more research showing biotech crops are safe for people and the environment.
Meanwhile, companies are racing to develop inexpensive technology to allow easy, quick identification of genetically altered seeds.
Once the technology is in place and crops can be traced, it might be as simple to recall contaminated grain as tainted hamburger.
The technology also will make it easier to document who's at fault.
Contact Norm Heikens at (317) 444-6532 or via e-mail at norm.heikens@starnews.com:
