Wal-Mart and others are going green with "biodegradable" packaging made from corn. But is this really the answer to America's throwaway culture?" />
PLA made by NatureWorks is compostable. But Chris Choate (at a Norcal site near Vacaville, California) says large amounts of corn plastic can interfere with composting. PLA made by NatureWorks is compostable. But Chris Choate (at a Norcal site near Vacaville, California) says large amounts of corn plastic can interfere with composting.

Brian Smale

Corn Plastic to the Rescue

Wal-Mart and others are going green with "biodegradable" packaging made from corn. But is this really the answer to America's throwaway culture?

  • By Elizabeth Royte
  • Photographs by Brian Smale
  • Smithsonian magazine, August 2006

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    PLA made by NatureWorks is compostable. But Chris Choate (at a Norcal site near Vacaville, California) says large amounts of corn plastic can interfere with composting.

    Corn Plastic to the Rescue

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    Thirty minutes north of Omaha, outside Blair, Nebraska, the aroma of steaming corn—damp and sweet—falls upon my car like a heavy curtain. The farmland rolls on, and the source of the smell remains a mystery until an enormous, steam-belching, gleaming-white architecture of tanks and pipes rises suddenly from the cornfields between Route 75 and the flood plain of the Missouri River. Behold NatureWorks: the largest lactic-acid plant in the world. Into one end of the complex goes corn; out the other come white pellets, an industrial resin poised to become—if you can believe all the hype—the future of plastic in a post-petroleum world.

    The resin, known as polylactic acid (PLA), will be formed into containers and packaging for food and consumer goods. The trendy plastic has several things going for it. It’s made from a renewable resource, which means it has a big leg up—both politically and environmentally—on conventional plastic packaging, which uses an estimated 200,000 barrels of oil a day in the United States. Also, PLA is in principle compostable, meaning that it will break down under certain conditions into harmless natural compounds. That could take pressure off the nation’s mounting landfills, since plastics already take up 25 percent of dumps by volume. And corn-based plastics are starting to look cheap, now that oil prices are so high.

    For a few years, natural foods purveyors such as Newman’s Own Organics and Wild Oats have been quietly using some PLA products, but the material got its biggest boost when Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, announced this past October that it would sell some produce in PLA containers. The move is part of the company’s effort to counter criticisms that it has been environmentally irresponsible. “Moving toward zero waste is one of our three big corporate goals for the environment,” says Matt Kistler, vice president of private brands and product development for the retailer. Wal-Mart plans to use 114 million PLA containers a year, which company executives estimate will save 800,000 barrels of oil annually.

    To make plastic packaging and containers from a renewable resource that can be returned to the earth as fertilizer sounds like an unmitigated good. Selling fruits and veggies in boxes that don’t leach chemicals into landfills sounds equally wonderful. But PLA has considerable drawbacks that haven’t been publicized, while some claims for its environmental virtues are downright misleading. It turns out there’s no free lunch after all, regardless of what its container is made of, as I learned when I tried to get to the bottom of this marvelous news out of corn country.

    At the NatureWorks plant in Blair, I don a hard hat, earplugs, gloves and protective eyewear and swear that I will snap no photographs. What can be revealed by my hosts is revealed: corn kernels are delivered and milled, dextrose is extracted from starch. Huge fermenters convert the dextrose into lactic acid, a simple organic chemical that is a by-product of fermentation (or respiration, in the case of the lactic acid that builds up in muscle tissue after intense activity). Industrial lactic acid is derived from many starchy sources, including wheat, beets and potatoes, but NatureWorks is owned by Cargill, the world’s largest corn merchant, and so its lactic acid comes from corn. The compound is converted to lactide, and lactide molecules are linked into long chains or polymers: polylactic acid, PLA.

    I did get a chance to see and touch the obscure object of my desire when some liquid PLA, with the color and shine of caramelized sugar, burst from a pipe and solidified in flossy strands on the steel-grated floor. The next time I saw the stuff, in a box in a warehouse, it had been crystallized into translucent white balls the size of peas: PLA resin. In the hands of fabricators, the pellets would be melted and reshaped into containers, films and fibers.

    Though the polymer, because of its low melting point, doesn’t yet have as many applications as does the far more common plastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET), used to make soda bottles and some polyester fibers, the company has plans, as a large banner in the office proclaims, to “Beat PET!” In some ways, corn plastic is clearly easier on the environment. Producing PLA uses 65 percent less energy than producing conventional plastics, according to an independent analysis commissioned by NatureWorks. It also generates 68 percent fewer greenhouse gases, and contains no toxins. “It has a drastically different safety profile,” says NatureWorks operations manager Carey Buckles. “It’s not going to blow up the community.”

    For retailers, PLA has a halo effect. Wild Oats was an early adopter of the stuff. “Our employees loved the environmental message of the containers, that they came from a renewable resource, and our customers had a strong reaction when we told them they were compostable,” says Sonja Tuitele, a Wild Oats spokesperson. The containers initially boosted the company’s deli sales by 17 percent, she says, and the chain now uses six million PLA containers a year. Newman’s Own Organics uses PLA packaging for its salad mixes. “We felt strongly that everywhere we can get out of petroleum products, we should,” says Newman’s Own CEO Peter Meehan. “No one has ever gone to war over corn.”

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    Thirty minutes north of Omaha, outside Blair, Nebraska, the aroma of steaming corn—damp and sweet—falls upon my car like a heavy curtain. The farmland rolls on, and the source of the smell remains a mystery until an enormous, steam-belching, gleaming-white architecture of tanks and pipes rises suddenly from the cornfields between Route 75 and the flood plain of the Missouri River. Behold NatureWorks: the largest lactic-acid plant in the world. Into one end of the complex goes corn; out the other come white pellets, an industrial resin poised to become—if you can believe all the hype—the future of plastic in a post-petroleum world.

    The resin, known as polylactic acid (PLA), will be formed into containers and packaging for food and consumer goods. The trendy plastic has several things going for it. It’s made from a renewable resource, which means it has a big leg up—both politically and environmentally—on conventional plastic packaging, which uses an estimated 200,000 barrels of oil a day in the United States. Also, PLA is in principle compostable, meaning that it will break down under certain conditions into harmless natural compounds. That could take pressure off the nation’s mounting landfills, since plastics already take up 25 percent of dumps by volume. And corn-based plastics are starting to look cheap, now that oil prices are so high.

    For a few years, natural foods purveyors such as Newman’s Own Organics and Wild Oats have been quietly using some PLA products, but the material got its biggest boost when Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, announced this past October that it would sell some produce in PLA containers. The move is part of the company’s effort to counter criticisms that it has been environmentally irresponsible. “Moving toward zero waste is one of our three big corporate goals for the environment,” says Matt Kistler, vice president of private brands and product development for the retailer. Wal-Mart plans to use 114 million PLA containers a year, which company executives estimate will save 800,000 barrels of oil annually.

    To make plastic packaging and containers from a renewable resource that can be returned to the earth as fertilizer sounds like an unmitigated good. Selling fruits and veggies in boxes that don’t leach chemicals into landfills sounds equally wonderful. But PLA has considerable drawbacks that haven’t been publicized, while some claims for its environmental virtues are downright misleading. It turns out there’s no free lunch after all, regardless of what its container is made of, as I learned when I tried to get to the bottom of this marvelous news out of corn country.

    At the NatureWorks plant in Blair, I don a hard hat, earplugs, gloves and protective eyewear and swear that I will snap no photographs. What can be revealed by my hosts is revealed: corn kernels are delivered and milled, dextrose is extracted from starch. Huge fermenters convert the dextrose into lactic acid, a simple organic chemical that is a by-product of fermentation (or respiration, in the case of the lactic acid that builds up in muscle tissue after intense activity). Industrial lactic acid is derived from many starchy sources, including wheat, beets and potatoes, but NatureWorks is owned by Cargill, the world’s largest corn merchant, and so its lactic acid comes from corn. The compound is converted to lactide, and lactide molecules are linked into long chains or polymers: polylactic acid, PLA.

    I did get a chance to see and touch the obscure object of my desire when some liquid PLA, with the color and shine of caramelized sugar, burst from a pipe and solidified in flossy strands on the steel-grated floor. The next time I saw the stuff, in a box in a warehouse, it had been crystallized into translucent white balls the size of peas: PLA resin. In the hands of fabricators, the pellets would be melted and reshaped into containers, films and fibers.

    Though the polymer, because of its low melting point, doesn’t yet have as many applications as does the far more common plastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET), used to make soda bottles and some polyester fibers, the company has plans, as a large banner in the office proclaims, to “Beat PET!” In some ways, corn plastic is clearly easier on the environment. Producing PLA uses 65 percent less energy than producing conventional plastics, according to an independent analysis commissioned by NatureWorks. It also generates 68 percent fewer greenhouse gases, and contains no toxins. “It has a drastically different safety profile,” says NatureWorks operations manager Carey Buckles. “It’s not going to blow up the community.”

    For retailers, PLA has a halo effect. Wild Oats was an early adopter of the stuff. “Our employees loved the environmental message of the containers, that they came from a renewable resource, and our customers had a strong reaction when we told them they were compostable,” says Sonja Tuitele, a Wild Oats spokesperson. The containers initially boosted the company’s deli sales by 17 percent, she says, and the chain now uses six million PLA containers a year. Newman’s Own Organics uses PLA packaging for its salad mixes. “We felt strongly that everywhere we can get out of petroleum products, we should,” says Newman’s Own CEO Peter Meehan. “No one has ever gone to war over corn.”

    Wal-Mart, which has begun using PLA containers in some stores, has also switched packaging on high-end electronics from PET to a sandwich of cardboard and PLA. “It has a smaller packaging footprint, it’s completely biodegradable and it costs less,” says Kistler. What Wal-Mart says about PLA’s biodegradable nature is true, but there’s an important catch.

    Corn plastic has been around for 20 years, but the polymer was too expensive for broad commercial applications until 1989, when Patrick Gruber, then a Cargill chemist looking for new ways to use corn, invented a way to make the polymer more efficiently. Working with his wife, also a chemist, he created his first prototype PLA products on his kitchen stove. In the beginning, it cost $200 to make a pound of PLA; now it’s less than $1.

    The polymer has had to get over some cultural hurdles. In the mid-1980s, another bio-based plastic appeared on grocery store shelves: bags made from polyethylene and cornstarch that were said to be biodegradable. “People thought they would disappear quickly,” recalls Steven Mojo, executive director of the Biodegradable Products Institute. They didn’t. Will Brinton, president of Woods End, a compost research laboratory in Mt. Vernon, Maine, says the bags broke into small fragments of polyethylene, fragments that weren’t good for compost—or public relations. “It was a big step backward for the biodegradability movement,” he adds. “Whole communities abandoned the concept of biodegradable bags as a fraud.”

    According to a biodegradability standard that Mojo helped develop, PLA is said to decompose into carbon dioxide and water in a “controlled composting environment” in fewer than 90 days. What’s a controlled composting environment? Not your backyard bin, pit or tumbling barrel. It’s a large facility where compost—essentially, plant scraps being digested by microbes into fertilizer—reaches 140 degrees for ten consecutive days. So, yes, as PLA advocates say, corn plastic is “biodegradable.” But in reality very few consumers have access to the sort of composting facilities that can make that happen. NatureWorks has identified 113 such facilities nationwide—some handle industrial food-processing waste or yard trimmings, others are college or prison operations—but only about a quarter of them accept residential foodscraps collected by municipalities.

    Moreover, PLA by the truckload may potentially pose a problem for some large-scale composters. Chris Choate, a composting expert at Norcal Waste Systems, headquartered in San Francisco, says large amounts of PLA can interfere with conventional composting because the polymer reverts into lactic acid, making the compost wetter and more acidic. “Microbes will consume the lactic acid, but they demand a lot of oxygen, and we’re having trouble providing enough,” he says. “Right now, PLA isn’t a problem,” because there’s so little of it, Choate says. (NatureWorks disputes that idea, saying that PLA has no such effect on composting processes.) In any event, Norcal says a future PLA boom won’t be a problem because the company hopes to convert its composters to so-called anaerobic digesters, which break down organic material in the absence of oxygen and capture the resulting methane for fuel.

    Wild Oats accepts used PLA containers in half of its 80 stores. “We mix the PLA with produce and scraps from our juice bars and deliver it to an industrial composting facility,” says the company’s Tuitele. But at the Wild Oats stores that don’t take back PLA, customers are on their own, and they can’t be blamed if they feel deceived by PLA containers stamped “compostable.” Brinton, who has done extensive testing of PLA, says such containers are “unchanged” after six months in a home composting operation. For that reason, he considers the Wild Oats stamp, and their in-store signage touting PLA’s compostability, to be false advertising.

    Wal-Mart’s Kistler says the company isn’t about to take back used PLA for composting. “We’re not in the business of collecting garbage,” he says. “How do we get states and municipalities to set up composting systems? That is the million-dollar question. It’s not our role to tell government what to do. There is money to be made in the recycling business. As we develop packaging that can be recycled and composted, the industry will be developed.”

    For their part, recycling facilities have problems with PLA too. They worry that consumers will simply dump PLA in with their PET. To plastic processors, PLA in tiny amounts is merely a nuisance. But in large amounts it can be an expensive hassle. In the recycling business, soda bottles, milk jugs and the like are collected and baled by materials recovery facilities, or MRFs (pronounced “murfs”). The MRFs sell the material to processors, which break down the plastic into pellets or flakes, which are, in turn, made into new products, such as carpeting, fiberfill, or containers for detergent or motor oil. Because PLA and PET mix about as well as oil and water, recyclers consider PLA a contaminant. They have to pay to sort it out and pay again to dispose of it.

    NatureWorks has given this problem some thought. “If the MRF separates the PLA, we’ll buy it back from them when they’ve got enough to fill a truck,” says spokeswoman Bridget Charon. The company will then either take the PLA to an industrial composter or haul it back to Blair, where the polymer will be broken down and remade into fresh PLA.

    Despite PLA’s potential as an environmentally friendly material, it seems clear that a great deal of corn packaging, probably the majority of it, will end up in landfills. And there’s no evidence it will break down there any faster or more thoroughly than PET or any other form of plastic. Glenn Johnston, manager of global regulatory affairs for NatureWorks, says that a PLA container dumped in a landfill will last “as long as a PET bottle.” No one knows for sure how long that is, but estimates range from 100 to 1,000 years.

    Environmentalists have other objections to PLA. Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, questions the morality of turning a foodstuff into packaging when so many people in the world are hungry. “Already we’re converting 12 percent of the U.S. grain harvest to ethanol,” he says. The USDA projects that figure will rise to 23 percent by 2014. “How much corn do we want to convert to nonfood products?” In addition, most of the corn that NatureWorks uses to make PLA resin is genetically modified to resist pests, and some environmentalists oppose the use of such crops, claiming they will contaminate conventional crops or disrupt local ecosystems. Other critics point to the steep environmental toll of industrially grown corn. The cultivation of corn uses more nitrogen fertilizer, more herbicides and more insecticides than any other U.S. crop; those practices contribute to soil erosion and water pollution when nitrogen runs off fields into streams and rivers.

    NatureWorks, acknowledging some of those criticisms, points out that the corn it uses is low-grade animal feed not intended for human use. And it processes a small amount of non-genetically engineered corn for customers who request it. NatureWorks is also investigating better ways to segregate PLA in traditional recycling facilities, and it’s even buying renewable energy certificates (investments in wind power) to offset its use of fossil fuels. But there’s not much the company can do about the most fundamental question about corn plastic containers: Are they really necessary?

    A few miles south of Blair, in Fort Calhoun, Wilkinson Industries occupies a sprawling, low brick building in a residential neighborhood. Wilkinson converts NatureWorks resin into packaging. In a warehouse-size room, the pellets are melted, pressed into a thin film and stretched into sheets that a thermoformer stamps into rigid containers—square, tall, rectangular or round. (PLA can also take the shape of labels, electronics casings, wrap for flowers, gift cards, clothing fiber and pillow stuffing.) “We’re shipping trays to Google’s cafeteria and to [filmmaker] George Lucas’ studio in San Francisco,” says Joe Selzer, a Wilkinson vice president. “We do trays for Del Monte’s and Meijer stores’ fresh cut fruit. And, oh yeah, we do Wal-Mart.”

    PLA amounts to about 20 percent of the plastic products made by Wilkinson. The rest is polystyrene and PET. “We’d like to see PLA be the resin of the future, but we know it never will be,” says Selzer. “It’s cost stable, but it can’t go above 114 degrees. I’ve had people call me and say, ‘Oh my god, I had my takeout box in my car in the sun and it melted into a pancake!’” Bridget Charon, sitting next to me, raises an eyebrow. Selzer continues. “Our number-one concern is PLA’s competitive price, and then its applications. After that comes the feel-good.”

    Selzer leads us up a staircase to an interior room the size of a large pantry. It’s crammed with samples of the 450 different containers fabricated by Wilkinson, which also stamps out aluminum trays. “Here’s Kentucky Fried Chicken’s potpie,” Selzer says, pointing to a small round tin. “This plastic tray is for a wedding cake. This one’s for crudités. This is for cut pineapple.” (Wilkinson manufactured the original TV dinner tray, a sample of which resides in the Smithsonian Institution.) As I look around, I can’t help thinking that almost all these products will be dumped, after just an hour or two of use, straight into a big hole in the ground.

    Martin Bourque, executive director of the Berkeley Ecology Center, a nonprofit recycling organization, holds a dim view of PLA convenience packaging. “Yes, corn-based packaging is better than petroleum-based packaging for absolutely necessary plastics that aren’t already successfully recycled, and for packaging that cannot be made of paper,” he says. “But it’s not as good as asking, ‘Why are we using so many containers?’ My worry is that PLA legitimizes single-serving, over-packaged products.”

    Many ecologists argue that companies should produce consumer goods that don’t pollute the earth in their manufacture or disposal. In Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, the architect William McDonough writes about a future in which durable goods, like TVs and cars, are made from substances that cycle back into the manufacturing process, while packaging for short-lived products, like shampoo, will decompose back into the earth. NatureWorks says it wants to be part of that future. As the company’s former CEO, Kathleen Bader, told Forbes magazine, “We’re offering companies a chance to preempt embarrassing demands for responsible packaging. Brands that wait for legislative fiat will be left behind and exposed.”

    Eric Lombardi, president of the Grassroots Recycling Network and a leader in the international Zero Waste movement, takes a nuanced view of PLA’s progress. He says it’s “visionary” even to think about biologically based plastic instead of a petroleum-based one. True, he says, there are problems with PLA, “but let’s not kill the good in pursuit of the perfect.” He suggests that the difficulty disposing of PLA reflects a larger deficiency in how we handle trash. He’s calling for a composting revolution. “We need a convenient, creative collection system with three bins: one for biodegradables, which we’ll compost, one for recycling, and one for whatever’s left.”

    Until such a system is in place, it’s going to be hard to have cheap convenience packaging and feel good about its environmental effect—to have our takeout cake and eat it too. But the manufacture of PLA does save oil and generates far less air pollution. And we have to start somewhere.

    Elizabeth Royte, a resident of Brooklyn, is the author of Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash. Photographer Brian Smale is based in Seattle.


     
    Comments

    Hi, your boidegradable packaging made from corn article is just fantastic! To hear that this kind of packaging is available is wonderful! We can save earth from plastic garbage! I have one question, if you've been producing conventional plastics for years and you want to sift to pla resins. can you use the same equipment/machines? Thanks! ADZ

    Posted by ADZ on November 20,2007 | 04:48PM

    Dear Smithsonians, I'm very glad to read the article you had about "Corn Plastic To The Rescue" by Ms Elizabeth Royte. I am from Manila, Philippines and i have questions re the machinery use in making Corn Plastic. I do hope you can refer me to the technical operations of the company on the article you published. Hope to hear from you soon. Many thanks! ADZ

    Posted by Alvin Uy Diaz on November 26,2007 | 01:02AM

    The Institute of Food Technologists has published a Scientific Status Summary entitled "Food Packaging - Roles, Materials, and Environmental Issues" which presents information on the role of packaging in food protection as well as disposal aspects. The article includes a discussion on PLA, and includes a table which presents different packaging materials in terms of advantages and disadvantages for food protection, consumer use, and environmental issues. This summary is the 2007 update of my 1991 Scientific Status Summary entitled "Effective Management of Food Packaging: Form Production to Disposal". Both of these Scientific Status Summaries aim to present a balanced view of packaging use and disposal - which includes the environmental impact of food preservation and delivery.

    Posted by Kenneth S. Marsh, Ph.D, CPP on December 18,2007 | 12:00PM

    you said drawbacks in pla production please elaborate thank you "but pla has considerbla drawbacks not publicised" please elucidate!!

    Posted by joe yap on January 4,2008 | 05:08PM

    It sounds as though PLA is a great alternative to PET and other plastics that permiate our landfills, yet without a system in place to ensure the materials are in fact composted and/or recycled, the consumer still finds him/herself in a quandry. As an example, it seems as though all commercially produced organic greens are moving towards plastic containers. Unfortunately, where we live these containers, including the PLA "compostable" ones, are not accepted in our recycling centers. I came across this article in the hopes of learning how I might compost my own "eco-friendly" plastic containers, but alas it seems that it cannot be done in my garden, but rather in a commercially controlled facility. I certainly hope that the technology and energy saving benefits of PLA and other "green" technologies continue to gain momentum, and I hope that the overall benefits and consumer useability are thouroughly thought through as well.

    Posted by Brad Moskowitz on January 5,2008 | 05:18AM

    Sydney 2000 Olympic games used products made from corn as a replacement for plastics. The push was for the games to be ultra-GREEN and this product was selected as a model of a futuristic environmentally responsible replacement. The garbage bin liners, fast food cultery and lots of other single-use products were made from corn! I know that there was some concern about these products dissolving if they were left sitting in water for an extended amount of time (imagine the water that sits in the bottom of garbage bin liners after a rain shower). I skipped out of town for the Olympics (to avoid the crowds) but I've often wondered whether the average Joe noticed the substitution for plastics.

    Posted by Anne-Marie on January 11,2008 | 06:44PM

    "But in reality very few consumers have access to the sort of composting facilities that can make that happen. NatureWorks has identified 113 such facilities nationwide—some handle industrial food-processing waste or yard trimmings, others are college or prison operations—but only about a quarter of them accept residential foodscraps collected by municipalities." I am fortunate to live in a municipality that does collect residential foodscraps - Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Population 3 million+. If the only speed bump between the North American disposable lifestyle and a planet rid of PET is composting facilities that can handle anaerobic breakdown of PLA I dare say we're not that far away.

    Posted by Caeli M. Lynch on January 15,2008 | 09:00AM

    I am designing a plastic thermoform clam shell package for a dental protector. I’m interested in using biodegradable plastic. What company can create a custom package for me?

    Posted by Jessica on January 17,2008 | 06:45AM

    Well the PLA stuff won't work in Phoenix, Mesa, Tempe, Sun City, Peoria, Glendale, Scottsdale, Apache Junction, Chandler, Awatukee, Coolidge, Tucson, Avondale, Goodyear, Wickenburg, Anthem both North and South, Florence, or Casa Grande Arizona where the temperatures can get to 126+ in the sun. Imagine walking to your car with a handful of PLA "plastic" bags and having all your groceries start to fall out of them because the bag hit that 114 degree temperature and started to melt?! ha ha ha This will not include having to load the bags into a vehicle that was BAKING in that same 126+ temperature and the inside of the vehicle does get to over 200 degrees! You will have THOUSANDS OF UNHAPPY Customers for sure! So, since Phoenix Metro which includes all the cities mentioned above and surrounding areas is one of the fasted growing places in America (so I am told) and does have a lot of WalMart stores, the PLA stuff is not a good idea in my opinion. Thanks for letting regular folks have their say. GRIN!

    Posted by Wanda Majeski on January 24,2008 | 05:41PM

    Corn is not a great environmental source for anything. With the push for corn ethanol, which is an inferior fuel, we are already planting corn fence row to fence row thus removing the soil conservation and wildlife set-asides. The price of corn is hitting levels that are devastating to poor countries. Corn has become an irrigated product and a strain on water supplies. This is pretty simple chemistry and probably PLA can be produced from feed stocks that are not basic food commodities. Find something that grows in a desert. We have plenty of that and soon will have plenty more.

    Posted by Mary Nightlinger on January 24,2008 | 10:58PM

    I work for a plastic hanger manufacture , and we want to use a biodegradable resin to produce our plastics hangers .Are their any pros and cons to this type of resin. Where can this be purchased . Do we need special equipment for this type of resin. would the new bio resin have the same strength. Hoping you can guide us to go freen. Thanks, Pina Gentile

    Posted by Pina Gentile on February 9,2008 | 05:57PM

    There are some serious problems with the use of corn to make packaging. First of all,corn is food. If the corn used to make PLA is animal feed, it should be used to feed animals to prevent the chronic protein deficiency experienced by people in developing countries. (The use of corn for ethanol has contributed to a price increase for this most basic of foods and also an increase in the price of soybeans, another basic food. Land originally used to plant soy was converted to corn in hopes of higher price for corn.) The "steep environmental toll of industrially grown corn" as detailed in your article is a second reason not to promote PLA for packaging. The MOST IMPORTANT CONCERN: it takes a lot of water to grow corn. Water is our most precious resource and every continent(except Antartica)is experiencing shortages - which will intensify as population increases.

    Posted by josette on February 9,2008 | 07:46PM

    I agree with Josette that there are real concerns for large scale use of corn plastics. Taking food away from the hungry is a huge concern as is the water and fertilizers used to grow most likely GM corn. There are other crops that can be made into plastics like potato, sugar cane and peanuts. Personally I would much rather see corn being made into plastics than into soda pop. Is it really about starving people? or is it about changing our priorities. Less demand for plastic could be a good start. Cindy in FL

    Posted by Wasteweardaily on February 13,2008 | 11:14AM

    As if feeding corn to animals isn't a waste of protien in and of itself. Protien deficiency is abundant in developing countries because we waste so much of it by feeding it to cattle. Meat production is very inefficient calorie and protien wise. In an overpopulated world, if we want to end global hunger then we are going to have to curb our meat appetite, period. And at the rate the popultaion is growing, we're going to have a hunger problem no matter what we do. Releasing toxic, non-degrading wastes into the ocean is a problem to big to fix. We just need to stop doing it, there's no other way around it.

    Posted by Andy on February 21,2008 | 01:06PM

    this technology is great u have done the great job and shown the way to save our planet at some extent .i hope if i could be there in ur team for the humanity .after completing my degree (mechanical engineering) i'll defenetly look forward to work on this and would like to contribute to some extent to my country by setting up an industry for producing PLA .

    Posted by amit kumar mishra on February 22,2008 | 04:11AM

    This was a great article except for a few details. Firstly the extensive use of the fertilizer used on this corn (nitrogen) is resulting in the pollution of aquifers in the midwest and the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf of Mexico has a dead zone the size of New Jersey due to nitrogen used for corn for PLA and ethanol.40% of all fishermen in LA. have lost their jobs since 2001.Next the farmers have switched over to the growing of this corn instead of feedstock corn and other crops like wheat.Food prices have gone up 10-13% according to the Dept. of Labor in one year, all attributed to less feedstock corn according to Lance Foods, Perdue and Smithfield Farms. Life cycle studies state that corn based PLA uses MORE fossil fuels than polyethylene. Consider the Roundup, nitrogen (both fossil fuel based),harvesting, conversion of corn into dishes, storing and transportation of the product in temperature controlled area so it doesn't break down in high heat.(See "How Green are Green Plastics"-Scientific American, Aug, 2002; Popular Science, Sept, 2007, and a study done by Franklin Associates in Dec., 2007.)The last study states that HDPE milk containers produces less post-consumer solid waste and generates fewer greenhouse gas emissions than PLA milk containers.(Franklin Associates do studies for the EPA, by the way.) Lastly the Environmental Defense Org. stated in Nov. 2007, that PLA is creating more global warming pollution than gasoline.Lastly, there are plastics designed to degrade in landfills and certified ASTM 5511. For a disposable society, there's a better answer than PLA.

    Posted by Leslie on February 27,2008 | 10:59PM

    Why is corn plastic better? What properties about corn make it a viable source for its polymers that make plastic?

    Posted by Kat on March 3,2008 | 08:02PM

    Interesting stuff. A google search led me to this article. I have a product in mind that I am wanting to manufacture and PLA sounds like just the material I was hoping for. Can you provide me information as to what companies may make/sell this material or will do custom molding of such.

    Posted by Kris on March 19,2008 | 08:07PM

    I think the best sacks are made of a natural, renewable, sustainable and quickly bio degradeable product: wood!

    Posted by Jan Brunk on March 25,2008 | 05:30PM

    The best Biodegradable substance on this planet was paper. Every thing packaged on this panet was in paper of one sort of another. What the big companies know about plastic now, one would think they would re-consider paper as the best substitute for packaging. Brown paper bags were the IN THING for many years until plastics made the market, at one time consumers had a choice between paper packaging or plastics, most chose paper, now there is no choice. At my local dump, the trees are covered in thousands of plastic bags, HOW good is this for the enviroment and the wild life,and not one scrap of paper hanging in the trees. As I see it, plastics of any composition are bad for the planet.

    Posted by Bill on March 27,2008 | 11:26AM

    We have now begun using corn-based plastics to package our eyewear for our new Lucky Brand Spectacles. It may not be the green bullet, but it certainly is a whole lot better than continuing to use petroleum polybags. Corn is proving to not be such a great fuel alternative (biofuels)...and the government would be wise to stop subsidizing its production for that use. However, it is clearly a sound alternative for many packaging needs. We're proud to have made the switch. As time/technology marches on our hope is that our use of alternatives to petroleum-based goods will encourage further innovation.

    Posted by Mike Hundert on March 30,2008 | 06:28PM

    corn is not the only source of latic acid. any sugar or starch can be fermented into loatic acid. corn stalks,sugar cane stalks, grass, or any other source of cellulose. latic acid is an unrecovered by-product of the kraft pulping of wood. latic acid can be made by the fermentation of spent sulfite pulping liquor. corn is not the only source of lactic acid!

    Posted by mark betler on April 1,2008 | 12:17PM

    Dumbest idea ever. First with the food shortage going on around the world its dumb to use corn for anything else. Second of all plastic is something we can reuse so easily and and efficiently. (plus if we do not make plastic from the byproduct of oil what are we going to with the byproduct.) So just recycle more and it would be find. Or make farmers switch to corn for all of these corn based products for them to make more money and have none to feed famlies around the world with not only corn but flour, rice, and many more.

    Posted by Tyler D on April 28,2008 | 02:30PM

    We all trying the to cut down on plastic that are not biodegradable, but is PLA a solution? I saw a website that a new company called GCP vista has a solution turning traditional plastic in to biodegadable plastic, i think is organic co-additive that you can add into PP, PE, ABS and more. here is some info for the plastic industries, i got this from the website:( SEPPA is a denatured starch which is made from organic ingredients, with high polymer material that is easy to decompose without any toxicity. The high polymer chain not only breaks up the physical characteristics and makes it soft, but breaks them into smaller pieces, and maintains biolysis. SEPPA does not change the molecular structure of the products, but changes its components. SEPPA is suited for the present traditions of manufacturing plastic products; it can be added to most of all traditional raw materials.) hope this info can help people in the plastic industries

    Posted by Natsuki on May 1,2008 | 06:27PM

    Necessity is the mother of invention, once again; it would also be great to see hydrogen being used more too.

    Posted by Mac M. on May 2,2008 | 07:19AM

    These comments really helped me with my paper thanks Are than any other alternative ways to make plastic?

    Posted by Gergo on May 18,2008 | 07:08PM

    Corn Plastic is a neat experiment, but definitely not a good idea in tough times. The reality of world wide food shortages should make us all realize this is not the time to take farm land out of production to make energy inefficient substrates at the expense of feeding people. Also, look at the commentary on the fact it actually takes more energy to produce. By the time the land is farmed, the raw materials transported, and processed, we are now being told that nothing has been gained energy wise. Then we should truthfully compute in that this whole production process is subsidized with billions in Federal tax dollars effectively driving food costs and fuel costs even higher. The real needs of real people must certainly be prioritized over this increasingly boring and shrill misguided environmental crusade against safe plastics like PVCs made to US standards that truthfully use a comparitively small amount of fuel to manufacture and a lot of the abundant resource salt that is in no short supply. When PVC is truthfully measured against bioplastics that are exhausting the land, taking food out of production, in terms of the actual energy required to produce,the reality is that existing plastics like PVC are more energy efficient, more socially responsible...and gasp...cleaner, safer, and greener product substrates by comparison to many so called alternative materials.

    Posted by darvo on May 27,2008 | 01:16PM

    Thanks for the very enlightening article. For us in the Philippines where industrial composting is not the norm, PLA's would be not be a huge imnprovement from recyclable plastics. Would love for you to do a follow up on additives that allegedly make regular plastic (PET, polystyrene) biodegrade completely with just sunlight and water to smaller pieces that microorganisms can digest. This is what SM Department Stores in the Philippines are using but all the materials I found so far are from the manufacturers. Independent analysis would be great.

    Posted by Ipat Luna on May 28,2008 | 04:15PM

    Interesting note about corn plastic, it is marketed as being hypoallergenic, but for those of us with a true corn allergy is it NOT. I learned that a local cafe had started using corn plastic cups by having a life threatening allergic reaction to a drink served in one. This says to me the plastic is not stable, which would mean that the people who are who are using GMO corn plastic are absorbing some of that GMO corn from their plastic. If you would not eat GMO corn from the cob, do you want it on your salad or in your drinks?

    Posted by Christine on June 6,2008 | 12:23PM

    I was just listening to a PBS story on the use of BPA or bis-phenol A in plastics, and the health hazards associated with it. I have seen some shows regarding the use of PLA or poly lactic acid for making plastic. The question that came to mind was, what polymerization chemical was used to cause lactic acid to polymerize into PLA? If a hazardous polymerization chemical still needed to be used, then maybe this is not as green as we might think. After looking at some google results on PLA, I was directed to Wikipedia whose explanation of PLA manufacturing included the polymerization chemical to be an organo-tin compound. So, if this is true, and if tin is being released into the environment or the ingestor, then this plastic is not as green or good as we might think. I would love to hear more on this line of thinking before we all jump to a new green but potentially toxic plastic. As for the use of corn, PLA can be made from any sugar. It doesn't have to be from corn. Fuel from corn is not really a good idea, as it is still energy intensive, water intensive, and drives up the price of food. We would be better off following through with the use of renewable energy (sun, wind, water, and hydrothermal). It's all for the taking. Further, I think the manufacturing of devices for harvesting these energies could be set up in areas like West Virginia so that coal miners will still have energy-related jobs.

    Posted by Mark on June 9,2008 | 04:30PM

    There is a choice. ECOGREEN PRODUCTS* Our biotechnology process meets the highest quality standards that govern today’s market resulting in a product that provides the convenience, performance and cost-competitiveness of petroleum-based packaging, without the environmental costs associated with non biodegradable packaging products. Made from natural sources and biomass blend technology. We use corn, wheat, tapioca, cucumber, among others. Biodegradable by micro-organisms. Features: holds temperatures -20 C +120C; microwave proof, against bad odors or flavors, lightweight, cost competitive, and the best... IT IS ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY! www.ecogreenproducts.com

    Posted by Vilma on June 18,2008 | 05:43PM

    Any biodegradeable plastic is far better than non-biodegradeable plastic - just look what is happening to the Pacific Gyre! www.algalita.org Only use petrol plastic for something you plant to keep FOREVER!

    Posted by Jonathan Baty on June 22,2008 | 11:24AM

    I think the author is being a bit premature here. Let's stop for just a moment and see if there are other issues that still need to be addressed. One of the problems associated with plastics in general when it comes to food applications is its tendency to outgas. As this is being touted as a plastic that will easily break down, it would seem reasonable to question what byproducts are being emitted before it actually decomposes. At what temperature does it begin to start this process? For instance, would there be any chemical discharge from PLA that a consumer might ingest on a hot summer day? Would a PLA cup left in a car during summer heat up sufficiently from the greenhouse effect to give off a chemical byproduct that might transfer to the food contained within or into the air? Have there been any studies on this whatsoever? Before we jump wholeheartedly into supporting an alternative as being "good", we really need to be sure that we know its properties beyond what its manufacturer represents in their marketing. How often do we learn that yet another so called safe plastic is not?

    Posted by Dr. Laser on June 24,2008 | 10:48AM

    I think NatureWorks is a pioneer in terms of environmentally friendly industry. The fact that you can't use it in a compost pile i don't think will upset people as long as we let them know this. I believe the market that will be opened up for composting facilities will greatly help the economy. Also there is economic value in the reduced price off goods packaged in plastic containers. I think there should be some swort of tax incentive for companies that swich over. If we can eliminate our use of PET's for nonrecycleable packaging then there is not problem with sworting them from PLA's, and if we simply label them appropriatly then have seperate bins at the recycling stations sworting will be a non issue. I think not using this technology b/c it is not perfect right now is rediculous. Is petrolium plastic usage and disposal perfect right now... It will just take some change and change is what our environment needs right now. Oh and in response to DR Laser the only thing pla is broken down into is water co2 and lactic acid. But i believe they should have already looked into how it reacts to environmental changes but you never know.

    Posted by boredatwork on July 2,2008 | 05:58PM

    Thanks for shedding some light on corn plastic (PLA). As an environmental educator, I teach the evils of PET plastic and bottlet water. I've been able to find some info on the PLA, but your article is a great starting point for my students. I agree 100% with the Last sentence in the article. We have been surprised all too many time by the "Next big (good) thing". I am now in the process of replacing of all of my polycarbinate (PC) water bottles. They too, were touted as safe, the perfect bottle, but now we are learning otherwise. Let's take our time, do more research, and get this one right.

    Posted by Franklin Klock on July 6,2008 | 05:49AM

    Thtin compound used for the polymerization of lactic acid, or lactid, the dimer form of the lactic acid, is Tin (II) ethyl-hexanoate, and it is an accepted FDA additive. in case you wanted to know

    Posted by on July 8,2008 | 11:25AM

    For those of us allergic to corn this is a nightmare! I hope that all packaging using corn will be labled!!! I try to buy food that is not contained in packaging, but sometimes I do not have a choice. Please consider mandating disclosure that the products are made from corn.....some people's lives just might depend on it!!!

    Posted by Jessica on July 20,2008 | 08:06AM

    For those of us who are allergic to corn, the corn plastic is not good news. We do have allergic reactions when we eat foods that are packaged in it, and even handling the PLA container will trigger rashes and other allergy symptoms. And now, so many products are being made from corn plastic, that it's getting very hard to avoid it. Even clothing, carpets and much more, may be made from corn. Green packaging sounds like a good thing, but they sure made a bad choice of material to make it. There are probably other things that wouldn't have the many drawbacks and problems that using corn has caused.

    Posted by Donnie on July 20,2008 | 12:46PM

    Many thanks for the informative writing. PLA seems to have a potential to be a good material for environment but still has many problems to solve. I guess more social concern and investments in technical drive may be needed to make this material really useful.

    Posted by Sam Park on August 1,2008 | 07:58AM

    I think we all need to resign ourselves to the fact that we need to stop being lazy, wasteful and greedy. Not only do we need to start recycling EVERYTHING that we use today, we need to start digging up landfills and recycling EVERYTHING that we can from years past. We need to stop building the massive one story buildings with multi acre parking lots and start building small footprint skyscrapers with all storage and parking facilities underneath. This country is on the brink of failure and we need someone to take control and get us back on track.

    Posted by Lonnie on August 1,2008 | 02:24PM

    I am interested in to the manufacturing of Top layer and back sheet for the health care , hygiene products and non wovens from PLA. kindly inform me the suitable project for manufacturing PLA.

    Posted by chandrasekar on August 18,2008 | 05:57AM

    can we replace corn with sweet potato as a raw mat in producing PLA based on starch content?

    Posted by Butterfly Villareal on September 4,2008 | 01:12PM

    wow Im doing a SCIENCE PROJECT on the decomposition of biodegradible plastic. now i know the 3 kinds of plastic. thanks

    Posted by Aira on September 19,2008 | 07:29AM

    Come on folks, don't we all know by now that there is no one solution to our problem? Corn may not be the single answer and may present a different set of problems, but the fact that it is less toxic to manufacture makes it superior to petroleum based products at the start of it's lifecycle... period. Think of this: PET was patented in 1941, the first bottle patented in 1973, wide-scale recycling of plastic began around 1990. So, 30 years between invention to realizing potential-- 20 years to then realizing the need for recovery. We know about composting now, so how long do we think it will take for the infrastructure to take hold? It all depends on the demand. Call it job security, but where there's a will (and money) there's a way. Besides, don't we know more now than we did in 1941? It would be a tragedy if people did not cry out for change in the way we package goods and create this demand. If you think packaging will go away entirely, you are really living in a dream world. If you think recycling is the answer, remember-- if it can't get back to nature, it basically winds up in a landfill no matter how many lives it lives. To close the cycle of life of a package is the only real answer. PLA may be just one way to do it. There is room for much more innovation in this area of sustainability.

    Posted by Amy on September 22,2008 | 04:06PM

    whew...simply amazing...i'm toni from cebu, phil. and i hope i can make one from banana sap as my investigatory projects..............

    Posted by toniphine flores on September 30,2008 | 06:59PM

    feeling happy that something atleast is being tired to be used instead of petroleum products . am interested to develop the conscience of my countrymen about your products and PLA. Here in india people hardly know about PLA nor is the same available here. Can i know more about PLA and it can be made available here. India thanks siddharth

    Posted by siddharth kothari on October 2,2008 | 11:46AM

    Polylactic acid (PLA), a plastic substitute made from fermented plant starch (usually corn) is quickly becoming a popular alternative to traditional petroleum-based plastics. As more and more countries and states follow the lead of China, Ireland, South Africa, Uganda and San Francisco in banning plastic grocery bags responsible for so much so-called “white pollution” around the world, PLA is poised to play a big role as a viable, biodegradable replacement. ------------------ kimrennin

    Posted by kimrennin on October 3,2008 | 11:37PM

    I am a small woman owned business and we manufacture and distribute the corn containers as well as wheat and sugar cane containers. I am thrilled to see people taking a stand for our environment. Lets get the plastic out of our school cafeteria's.

    Posted by Yvonne Killings - Libra Enterprises, Inc on October 25,2008 | 09:50AM

    Dear Smithsonians, I am currently researching a project for my collage in Ireland I was just enquiring is it possible to feed this product to animals in small quantities, this would also mean the product is not totally wasted after it intended purpose and what would be its feed value. Also what are the costs associated with producing this product in relation to normal plastic. Hope to hear from you soon. Regards Michael Dillon

    Posted by Michael Dillon on February 11,2009 | 05:04AM

    I love the idea of using biodegredable materials. However as an investor for such a production plant in a country like Iran, I have not being able to find any company with the knowhow knowledge to help us. I beleive it should not matter where on this planet. Earth seems to be our last hope to live in. I hope someone step forward and help me to invest my money in this positive cause. when it comes to protecting our planet, political differences should be put aside. Thank you

    Posted by Farid on February 16,2009 | 04:56AM

    I commend innovation and the introduction of plastics that will help with the plastic problem. Plastic bottles are a growing problem in our landfills and oceans. We felt that something needed to be done……and now. We felt that plastics made from crops that could be producing food, wasn’t the answer. In fact we were wondering what would become of all the PLA plastics produced. The wouldn't biodegrade in a landfill, and they are not accepted by recyclers as PLA ruins the recycle stream of PET plastics. Additionally, many reports indicate that in addition to causing our food process to rise, the equipment and chemicals used to produce food based bio-fuel may be increasing pollution. We knew that there wasn’t going to be one “fix it all” answer and began to wonder if anything was ever going to be done. The problem was growing every day, more bottles were being manufactured and more bottles were accumulating in places where we didn’t need them. We were wondering if “Earth Friendly Bottles” would ever be available? That’s why we decided to do our part and started ENSO Bottles. We are partnering with other companies to offer a PET plastic bottle that will biodegrade, compost or recycle. Our bottles can be produced in a clear or colored version, however, clear version isn't quite as clear as current PET plastic bottles but then again that's one way to identify our earth friendly bottle. ENSO is trying to achieve sustainability with our plastic bottles. Our goal is to make bottles that won’t have the adverse impact on our environment and are made from non food bio-fuels. We haven't started making them from bio-fuel but that’s high on our agenda and hopefully will be something we can offer in the future. But for now, we offer a plastic bottle that is earth friendly...it’s just one step but if we all take just one step toward improving our planet….we will make a difference.

    Posted by Max on February 16,2009 | 12:11PM

    Hello everyone, I think this is a great idea and a great leap forwards towards finding ways to minimise our dipandancy in oil, I think this is the main issu pluse why we are using plastic products that hurm not only the planet also ourselfs with their leaching pisiones chmicles into our food and water directly, why to let our yuong ones drink and eat from plastic when we can have a totaly harmless natural material that can replace all these plastic products? hopfuly this will catch big time. I have incuonter a company that make some cosnsumer proucts from PLA, chack it out: makocollection.com

    Posted by Alexander Raviv on February 24,2009 | 10:57AM

    PLA plastics may not be perfect, but they are a huge step in the right direction. Not to mention THEY WONT LEACH CHEMICALS INTO YOUR COFFEE, tea, food, etc. Cornmug.com provides PLA plastic mugs in varying sizes with your logo or artwork on printed on it. Kat Napier Main Maize cornmug.com

    Posted by Kat Napier on March 12,2009 | 02:42PM

    hi um... i was wondering how to make corn into plastic and thes questions do we have to have a sertan tipe of corn? why is corn so important to make plastic? why does corn have to made into plastic? how does corn work? how does one messure corn? can corn made into plastic help the world? how come plastic is made from corn? PLEASE ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS FOR ME!!!!

    Posted by mercy on March 29,2009 | 09:48AM

    There is now a third generation biodegradable product which is the standard plastic we use daily, light naphtha based plastic, with an additive that will cause it to biodegrade without the need of heat, UV light, mechanical stress, or oxygen. This third-generation plastic is called biodegradable plastic, and it biodegrades when placed into the ground due to the action of micro-organisms naturally occurring in soil. We are now using the third generation additives in all of our products. It has all of the benefits of oxo-biodegradable plastics-it is recyclable, is invulnerable to water, some products can have recycled content, it doesn't diminish the grain supply, and it is stronger, less expensive, and made of an otherwise useless industrial byproduct. It also has the advantage of having the same shelf life as regular plastic, unlike PLA and oxo-biodegradable plastic, as it does not biodegrade until it is in the presence of soil micro-organisms. Additionally, this new plastic will definitely biodegrade when buried in the ground in either aerobic or anaerobic environments, ie. in a land fill. Like PLA, this new plastic will produce small amounts of methane in a land fill if deeply buried, but not so quickly as PLA, and like PLA, it will produce small amounts of carbon dioxide as a result of the metabolism of micro-organisms if it decomposes in the presence of oxygen.

    With this new generation of biodegradable plastic, biodegradation is delayed long enough that there is time to cap the landfills, so the methane is burned off or even used to generate electricity, as is being done in almost 500 US land fills currently. Like all of our products, this new plastic is recyclable and completely non-toxic to people, plants, and animals, and is made of ingredients approved by the FDA for food contact. -from http://biogreenproducts.biz by Tim Dunn

    Posted by Tim Dunn on April 3,2009 | 12:00PM

    hi, i'm Oscar form China, and will graduate in this summer, my major is Ecology. last Sunday i've been talked with a friend who worked in the DuPont, he mentioned about making plastic out of corn, i was paid a lot of interested in it, and i think this field(as Tim said the new generation of biodegradable product above) will prosper in the near future, and in China, a lot of people start to pay attention to the biodegradable product but still hard to developing, so i wonder if there are some cooperation in the world-wild companies, and what can i do if i want to do something on it, maybe you can give me some advice, thank you!

    Posted by Oscar on April 20,2009 | 08:38PM

    great topics, last year i was looking it to Biodegradable products and came across with a company called GCP VISTA in Los Angeles CA. at that time GCP VISTA had plant starch additive that help plastic to break down in time and it was interesting how it worked, after a year later i visit the http://www.designworldonline.com/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=3088 and saw GCP VISTA again, i see that GCP VISTA has come out with more pictures of what the additive can do for the plastic industries and help to approve the environment. I think it great what this company is doing, "Keep up the good works GCP VISTA!" hope to see more products made from your SEPPA additive.

    Posted by Natsuki on April 21,2009 | 03:35PM

    Sir, Please tell me how to make natural Biodegradebale plastic (pvc)for exports oriented packing . If you could provide the process & recipe for making so Please do reply Thanks Regards Prakash

    Posted by Prakash Panicker on May 20,2009 | 06:11AM

    Sir, I’d like to make PLA and food container with Cornstarch in Iran. Could you introduce me some company to buy its machinery & production line. Thank you

    Posted by reza mohammadi on May 27,2009 | 07:18AM

    Your product is very interesting. I think that we need to find alternatives to the landfilling waiste.

    However, have you ever considered the impact that your product has on those who are allergist or have sinsetivities to corn?

    I realize that the FDA and FAAN do not recognize corn as an allergy. Purhaps they (and you) should visit a few allergists offices (and I know that not all allergists agree that corn allergy excisted either). You would see many people who suffer greatly, including anaphlaxice and and all the other food allergy symptoms that the "top eight" suffer. I also know that most people believe that "no corn is in the product because the chemicle structure has been changed so that there is no corn left". If you ever see an allergy sufferer after unknowingly using a product with corn derivatives you would never doubt again

    Just remember a few years ago no one believed that anyone could be allergic to peanuts either.

    Posted by Wanda Chamberlink on June 7,2009 | 11:23AM

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