USDA begins buying StarLink-tainted seed 
 
Updated 4:41 PM ET March 22, 2001 

By Randy Fabi

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S.  Agriculture Department this week
sent contracts to some 300 seed companies offering  to  buy  seed
potentially  contaminated  with  StarLink,  a  bioengineered corn
variety not approved for human use,  in an effort to keep it  out
of this year's crop, officials said Thursday.  

Earlier  this  month,  the  USDA  said  it  would spend about $20
million to  purchase  about  1  percent  of  this  year's  spring
planting  corn  seed  suspected  of being tainted with StarLink's
Cry9c protein.  The protein is the key  component  that  protects
young plants from destructive pests.  

Industry  officials  discovered traces of the StarLink protein as
they prepared to ship bags of seed to American farmers for spring
planting.  The bioengineered corn is  approved  only  for  animal
feed.  

StarLink, made by the Franco-German pharmaceutical group Aventis,
was  barred by U.S.  regulators for human use because of concerns
that it might cause allergic reactions.   The  discovery  of  the
gene-altered  corn  in  taco  shells last September triggered the
eventual recall of more than 300 U.S.  foods.  

GOV'T TO DESTROY STARLINK SEED 

In the government's  offer  to  the  seed  industry,  the  USDA's
Commodity  Credit  Corporation said it would pay $40 for each bag
tainted with the StarLink protein.  USDA  officials  will  sample
and test the seed bags for the Cry9c protein.  

USDA  estimated  about 400,000 bags of corn seed would have to be
purchased.  Each bag contains about 80,000 kernels of seed.  

Once the seed is purchased by USDA,  the government will  destroy
the  contaminated  seed by either burying it in soil at least one
foot deep or crushing and composting it.  

Seed  companies  have  until  April  15  to  decide  whether   to
participate  in the USDA program.  Companies licensed by Aventis,
and their affiliates or agents,  are not eligible to participate,
USDA said.  

Ralph  Linden,   USDA's  assistant  general  counsel,   said  the
department has not ruled out seeking reimbursement  from  Aventis
for the buy-back program.  

Aventis  declined  to  comment  on whether it would reimburse the
USDA.  

"I'd like to believe there is a light at the end of the  tunnel,"
said Steve Gill, warehouse and inventory director for USDA's Farm
Service  Agency.   "The  main driver with this seed program is so
there won't be another repeat from last year." 

Gill said the government's first StarLink corn buy-back  program,
an  attempt  started in September to scoop up as much of the 2000
corn crop as possible, was almost complete.  

As of Thursday,  the department had purchased 104,687 bushels  of
contaminated corn for $152,000, he said.  

Gill  said  most  farmers opted for the higher prices Aventis was
offering for the corn.  

Most of the 2000 StarLink crop,  about 70 million  bushels,  have
been identified and routed to animal feed or ethanol use.  

But StarLink corn from previous crop years continue to be stored.
Aventis  earlier this month said more than 430 million bushels of
contaminated corn remain in storage nationwide.