Starlink, a chemically engineered type of corn that has not been approved for human consumption, has been detected in food sources across Iowa.

This corn was engineered to contain a protein that makes the corn resistant to Liberty Herbicide and to a specific insect, the European corn borer.

A group of ISU researchers are monitoring the biotechnical corn on their Web site, www.iowagrain.org, which they are constantly updating.

Roger Ginder, professor of economics, said the main problem with Starlink is getting it approved for human consumption by the Food and Drug Administration. This is because the protein used to genetically enhance the corn is similar to proteins in nuts to which many people are allergic, he said.

The FDA also has a zero-tolerance policy for the Starlink hybrid, Ginder said. They test for Starlink by taking a 400-grain sample, grinding it and putting it into a certain chemical which will change color if the protein is present. If the sample fails, the whole car will be turned away, and the farmer will be charged for the train transportation fee, he said.

The Environmental Protection Agency issued a registration to Aventis, the creator of Starlink, that allowed it only to be used as feed for animals.

“The split registration for Starlink is an important part of the problem,” Ginder said.

The Starlink corn could cross-pollinate with traditional corn, causing traces of the protein to show up in the pollinated species. This means that the farmers would not be able to tell the difference between the two corns, Ginder said.

“Registering a hybrid for livestock feed and not the normal uses is not compatible with our grain-handling system,” he said. “Elevators typically mingle or co-mix grain from a number of producers, and that makes it difficult to keep grain with a limited use separate.”

Charles Hurburgh, of the Iowa Grain Quality Initiative, said this situation could have been avoided.

“Aventis should have waited to market this until they had full approval,” he said. “They will have a very large liability, much larger than if they had waited a year or two.”

Aventis was so quick to get this out because genetically enhanced grains are very expensive to create, and they wanted to try to get some of the money back out of this drug, which could take years, Hurburgh said.

Now, Starlink may have to shell out large amounts of money to try to cover for this mistake, Ginder said, and Aventis is now going around buying up all the Starlink they can.

Hurburgh said this is because Aventis did no follow-ups to make sure that the corn was not being put into regular elevators, and some farmers were not even told about Starlink’s regulated use.

“This has been a learning experience,” Ginder said. “These new technologies will need to be evaluated in view of their effect on the marketing system more carefully.”