| Group says UN doling out banned starlink foods Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/world/3043745http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/world/3043745
Feb. 16, 2005, 9:04PM
Group says U.N. doling out banned foods Associated Press
GUATEMALA CITY - Environmental groups said Wednesday that they have discovered that banned genetically modified food — including a variety of corn forbidden for humans in the United States — is being handed out in U.N. food aid to Central America and the Caribbean.
A study backed by Friends of the Earth found that samples of World Food Program shipments collected in Guatemala included StarLink, a corn long ago pulled from the market in the United States because of concerns it could cause allergic reactions.
Discovery of StarLink corn in consumer products in the United States prompted several supermarket recalls in 2000 and 2001.
The study looked at 77 samples of imported corn in aid shipments or sold on the open market. Eighty percent was reported to include genetically modified material.
In Rome, World Food Program spokeswoman Anthea Web said that "the U.N. WHO, FAO and ourselves have found absolutely no evidence there is any health safety issue" with genetically modified foods. "They're eaten safely by millions of people everyday from Boston to Brussels to Buenos Aires."
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