Among the weird uses for genetic engineering is contraceptive corn. Epicyte Pharmaceuticals Inc. is splicing into corn a genetic defect found in some women with the aim of making the plant generate a protein that kills sperm.

Scientists at Johns Hopkins University have a dream: acres and acres of contraceptive corn bending in the wind. Dr. Kevin Whaley and his colleagues have succeeded in genetically modifying maize to produce human antibodies to sperm. They extracted DNA from the antibodies of immuneinfertile women (whose systems. attack incoming sperm), cloned it, and mixed it with corn DNA. After harvesting the corn, antibodies are purified from the seeds where they concentrate, processed and added to a lubricant. The researchers envision mostly Third World women applying the product as birth control 12 to 24 hours before sex.