Organic Seed Grower Fears Contamination from Biotech Corn

The Associated Press / February 1, 2001 / By MARLENE
LUCAS, Cedar Rapids Gazette

MOUNT VERNON, Iowa -- Laura Krouse is worried that the
genes of her corn seed, a line from the 1903 world champion ear
of corn, will be contaminated by pollen from neighboring fields
of biotech corn.

The family that formerly owned Krouse's land built a seed business by 
multiplying a few kernels of corn from that famous ear. The family 
stubbornly produced it year after year when others turned from 
open-pollinated corn to hybrid corn in the 1930s and 1940s.

When Krouse bought the 72-acre farm west of Mount Vernon in 1988, 
the seed business was included in the purchase. She kept the gene
line pure and found customers who grow the corn for feed in their
organic livestock operations, usually dairy farmers.

Now Krouse worries that the gene pool of her corn will be contaminated 
by pollen from neighbors' gene modified corn, which will disqualify her 
seeds from being used by certified organic farm operations.

Krouse never worried about pollen from the neighbors' corn as long
as they grew hybrid varieties. Up until five years or so ago, organic 
production focused on avoiding synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. 
Then as genetically modified crops were developed, those were added 
to the "can't use" list.

These genetically altered crops are called biotech crops or GMOs, 
for genetically modified organisms.

Supporters say biotechnology allows developers to select crop 
characteristics more quickly than is done in the field through
generations of crossbreeding.

Opponents of biotech say developers create crops that
never would develop within nature. One example is corn that is
modified with the addition of a bacterium gene, known as Bt for
short, that makes corn plants toxic to corn borers.

Another example is Roundup Ready soybeans and corn that are gene 
enhanced to tolerate being sprayed with Roundup herbicide. Farmers
say having these crops allows them to spend less on herbicide and
to use less herbicide.

Biotech opponents and supporters may argue for years
about the long-term implications of gene alterations, but Krouse
is looking at the immediate consequences of gene contamination in
her cornfield.

"Financially, it could be significant, but it could be
a complete loss of this gene pool - in one year," she emphasized.
"It would be total and permanent."

In the 13 years Krouse has owned the seed business, she has walked
through her corn looking for plants with good disease resistance,
strong stalks and high yield. She uses spray paint to mark the plants 
that make the grade and collects ears from those plants for seed.

She plants her crop later than her neighbors so her corn is pollinating 
at a date later than surrounding corn corps. But that may not be enough, 
she said. Pollen can travel a long way.

The consequences of crop contamination are still being sorted out by 
Aventis CropScience, which produced StarLink, a biotech variety of 
corn that was licensed to be fed to animals but not
humans.

Last year, StarLink was found in the nation's food supply and
Aventis is now paying 25 cents a bushel over local prices to buy
the corn and keep it off the market. Aventis also is buying other
corn varieties grown within 660 feet of StarLink to contain the
StarLink gene spread by pollen drift.

The cost to Aventis in Iowa and 16 other states is estimated to 
range from $100 million to $1 billion.

Krouse has not spoken with her fence-sharing neighbors, but she knows 
biotech corn is grown within her neighborhood.

"I'm going to have to test my seeds," she said. "StarLink is a preview 
of what's going to happen. Those of us with unique genetics don't get 
to be messed up a few times. One time and our genetics are 
permanently changed."