Finger said he supports the idea of biotechnology to make food abundant and reduce the need for pesticides. Government regulators, researchers and manufacturers haven't paid enough attention to consumers, though, he said.
"What are we to a multibillion-dollar industry?" Finger said.
The CDC insisted its tests are reliable. Carol Rubin, an epidemiologist, said it's "highly unlikely" people were sickened by StarLink based on those blood tests, which looked for antibodies to the StarLink protein that doctors thought might cause an allergic reaction. No antibodies were found, she said.
The agency doesn't dispute that the people had allergic reactions; they just weren't allergic to StarLink, Rubin said.
While the StarLink episode received a great deal of public and media attention, US consumers have largely ignored the debate over engineered foods, said Thomas Hoban, a professor of sociology at North Carolina State University who conducts and monitors opinion polls.
European and Japanese consumers have been much more skeptical of the technology, and some varieties of genetically engineered crops, including StarLink, are banned overseas.
Genetically engineered crops have been planted in the US for only six years. StarLink, which includes a gene that creates a substance toxic to corn borers, was harvested in the past three years.
Aventis stopped selling the corn last year and bought the 2000 StarLink crop from farmers. Trace amounts of the corn have shown up in other seed. That's led Aventis to seek a ruling allowing small amounts of the suspect protein into human food, which would prevent further recalls.
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