In the first federal bailout related to genetically engineered food, the U.S. Agriculture Department announced yesterday that it will buy as many as 400,000 bags of corn seed that contain the genetically modified (GM) corn variety StarLink. Using up to $20 million in funds normally lent to farmers facing natural disasters, the government will compensate seed companies for corn that was inadvertently contaminated with StarLink, most likely through the drift of pollen from other cornfields. StarLink has not been approved for human consumption, but the corn has still made its way into numerous food products, prompting nationwide recalls. Just this morning, Greenpeace said StarLink has been found in frozen corn dogs made by Kellogg’s. The U.S. EPA said yesterday that it would no longer approve GM products for use as animal feed unless they were also safe for human consumption.
