WASHINGTON - The controversy over the safety of a gene-spliced American corn has widened with the corn's maker, French firm Aventis, urging US regulators to grant a four-year grace period to allow existing supplies to wind their way through the food chain.
Japan, the biggest foreign buyer of US corn, wants officials to act swiftly to halt exports of food products containing the controversial corn, called StarLink.
A Japanese consumer group said it found the corn in a baking mix and in animal feed.
StarLink has not been approved by US regulators for human consumption. It is illegal for American firms to export it.
Corn futures contracts closed lower on the Chicago Board of Trade with worries that Japan might take its business elsewhere.
The European Union, which buys small amounts of raw corn from US exporters, set up a 24-hour desk to monitor the situation.
Big US grocery stores have pulled taco shells and tortillas suspected of being contaminated with StarLink.
Aventis fought back by submitting new scientific data to bolster its case that the corn was safe to eat.
It asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to allow a four-year grace period for existing StarLink corn to be harvested, processed and consumed.
Aventis said its latest safety assessment showed that the corn was digested as readily as other foods.
It said the corn had a "more than adequate margin of safety"compared to known allergens such as peanuts
The EPA refuses to allow StarLink in human food, citing unanswered questions.
- REUTERS
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