A class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of farmers contends that the maker of the StarLink biotech corn variety was negligent in bringing the corn to market. StarLink was not approved for human consumption, but has been found to have made its way into the food stream, leading to a nationwide recall of millions of taco shells and a fall in the price of American corn in the U.S. and abroad. The suit says that StarLink’s maker, Aventis, failed to inform farmers that the corn had been approved by the U.S. EPA for use only in animal feed. Aventis had no comment on the suit, but it has already agreed to compensate some farmers for losses. It has also asked regulators to approve StarLink for human consumption because it may take as many as four years for the corn now in the country’s grain storage system to be processed.
