The Story So Far

1998:
Aventis – Bayer’s StarLink was a type of insect resistant GE corn grown in the USA from 1998, by introducing the Bt protein, Cry9C. It was only approved for animal feed and industrial purposes as there were concerns that the Cry9C protein could cause allergies because it shares characteristics of other allergens.

September 2000:
Traces of StarLink were found in corn taco shells and other foods, and over 300 corn products had to be withdrawn from the market. Aventis- Bayer spent about $100 million to buy back the 2000 crop. The United States Department of Agriculture spent $20 million to buy back seeds from small companies whose seed stock was contaminated. Industry observers estimate that the entire cost of the scandal may exceed US $1 billion.

"March 2003:
In India, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee rejected a food aid shipment by CARE and Catholic Relief Services on the grounds that it may contain traces of Starlink corn containing the Cry 9C gene. The Indian Council of Medical Research cautioned the government about the results of long-term exposure to corn-soya blend containing GM corn. ICMR also cautioned that there was no mechanism for post-aid disbursement surveillance.

August 2003 - July 2004:
Greenpeace’ repeated requests for information on the field trial crops was finally met when the DBT send us a letter annexed with an internal list of field trials conducted and a Current Science article that contained a list of genetically modified crops that had been given permission for field trials. This paper showed that a particular company had been given permission to conduct field trials with the potentially allergenic Cry 9C (Starlink gene) in cabbage and cauliflower.

August 2004
A phone conversation with the Senior Mustard researcher of the company’s biotech division gives us reason to believe that the company has given up their transgenic work on cabbage and cauliflower. They have also abandoned work on mustard, tomato and brinjal.
Greenpeace sent a letter to the company asking them whether they had abandoned
field trials on GM vegetable crops and why they did so. There has been no response from the company.

September 30th 2004
Greenpeace confronts the company with a series of questions; about the high risks attached to their GM cabbage and cauliflower field trials, the current status of the same, and their reasons for withdrawing from this field of research (if they are willing to admit it).

For further information, contact:
Divya Raghunandan, GE Campaigner, Greenpeace India: +919845535406 draghuna@dialb.greenpeace.org