USDA To Improve Biotech Standards

Wednesday, November 29th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) â€” The government is considering ways to improve the tracking and detection of genetically engineered crops as a result of problems with a variety of biotech corn that inadvertently got into the food supply.

Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said Wednesday that his department will take public comment on a series of steps to facilitate the marketing of biotech crops and to keep them separate from conventional food.

Those steps would include establishing definitions for biotech and conventional crops as part of its system of quality grades and standards.

``In order to protect our domestic and foreign markets and ensure public confidence, it's essential that we improve our ability to identify and track genetically modified farm products,'' Glickman said.

U.S. corn exports dropped sharply this fall after the disclosure that the unapproved biotech corn, known as StarLink, had been used in taco shells. The problem also has forced some processors to shut down and has snarled grain shipping in Iowa and other parts of the Midwest.

Glickman blamed the problem on the corn's developer, Aventis CropScience, which was supposed to ensure that the corn was only used for animal feed or industrial uses, such as production of ethanol, a gasoline additive. It has not been approved for human consumption.

In addition to considering new rules for the handling of biotech crops, the department also is weighing how to regulate ornamental grasses and trees that are being developed through genetic engineering. USDA officials are concerned about the new plants cross-pollinating with weedy relatives and causing environmental damage.

``The American people expect us to protect the environment and public health. So does the food industry,'' Glickman told his department's advisory committee on agricultural biotechnology.

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On the Net:

USDA's biotechnology site: http://www.usda.gov/agencies/biotech/index.html