By David Sneed
In what may be a first in the nation, the Avila Valley Barn now
clearly labels corn it sells as genetically engineered and offers customers
a choice of traditional corn. Owner John DeVincenzo grows corn that is
genetically modified to contain an enzyme that is toxic to insects but not
people. The produce is labeled ?Our own GE corn.?
?People have the right to know what they are eating,? DeVincenzo said.

Environmentalists and local anti-GE food activists had been pressing
DeVincenzo to label the GE corn since he first began growing it five years
ago. In September, he agreed.

?We still don?t think enough testing has been done on GE crops, but
failing that, GE products should be labeled,? said Andrew Christie, director
of the local chapter of the

Sierra Club. ?We heartily endorse the precedent Dr. DeVincenzo is
setting.? DeVincenzo is an orthodontist in San Luis Obispo.

Renata Brillinger of Californians for GE-Free Agriculture said she has
not heard about this kind of labeling happening anywhere else.

?There are some voluntary labels for GE-free foods,? she said. ?We
have distributed several hundred posters for farmers to use at their market
stalls, but I haven?t seen anything like this.?

The corn is grown on farmland near the Avila Valley Barn on Avila
Beach Drive. It is the only genetically engineered crop DeVincenzo grows.
This year, he grew about 12 acres each of genetically engineered corn and
regular corn.

DeVincenzo said he started growing GE corn for practical reasons: It
is cheaper to produce because it does not have to be sprayed to control corn
earworms.

?It was strictly economics,? he said. By planting the modified corn,
DeVincenzo did not have to use pesticides to control bugs and worms or pay
for a worker to apply such chemicals. And there was some saving on fuel by
not running a tractor.

Labeling the corn is also a good tool for measuring consumer
preferences. The store offers the GE and traditional corn at the same price.

When DeVincenzo started the labeling, he thought the traditional corn
would outsell the GE corn by a two-to-one margin. He was surprised to see
that the opposite was true.

While some customers complained that GE corn was offered at all,
DeVincenzo said the typical customer says they prefer the modified type
because it is not shucked and looks fresher. Traditional corn has to be
partially or completely shucked to eliminate ears that are infested with
worms.

As a result, DeVincenzo?s farm manager is recommending that half as
much regular corn be planted next year.

In 2004, voters in the county turned down a ballot measure that would
have banned growing any GE crops in the county. Such crops remain a
controversial issue.

The journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences recently
published an Indiana University study that found that GE corn pollen and
other plant parts are entering streams near cornfields and may be killing
aquatic insects called caddisflies.

DeVincenzo admits that the use of GE crops raises legitimate concerns,
but he believes the environmental benefits of GE crops outweigh the
drawbacks.

For example, traditional corn requires the spraying of insecticides
every four days that can drift in the wind, and the tractor applying the
insecticide emits greenhouse gases.

Even with spraying, some ears of corn are going to become infested
with worms, so more land has to be planted with traditional corn to yield
the same crop as field planted with GE corn.

?One has to measure the environmental impact of pesticides on our
sensitive planet,? DeVincenzo said. ?The benefits and liabilities must be
weighed in everything we do.?

[www.sanluisobispo.com]