Martek Biosciences

Martek Biosciences is a biosciences company based in Columbia, Maryland. Its annual net sales were about $450 million in 2010. In December 2010, Martek was purchased by Dutch chemical company Royal DSM for $1.1 billion. It is now a fully-owned subsidiary of DSM. According to the Baltimore Sun, Steve Dubin, Martek's CEO at the time of the purchase, is estimated to have made $4.1 million from his stock holdings alone from the sale. He also received $2.5 million in "severance and change-of-control agreements."

Martek specializes in the development of nutritional supplements derived from microalgae and fungus.

Controversial Products
Martek's "life'sDHA™" is the only U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) additive for infant formula. DHA is an omega-3 fatty acid, and life'sDHA™ is a DHA oil produced from Crypthecodinium cohni or Schizochytrium sp. algae. According to Martek, "an adequate supply of DHA, provided through either breast milk or DHA-fortified [infant] formula, is associated with better visual function and more rapid visual development." According to the company's own estimates, 99% of infant formulas in the United States contain life'sDHA™. It has also expanded the market for its DHA oils to 350 other food products and markets its product as a "vegetarian alternative" to fish oil.

Martek also produces "life'sARA™," which is a long-chain polyunsaturated omega-6 fatty acid produced from the fungus Mortierella alpina. Arachidonic acid (ARA) is naturally found in breast milk and is the primary omega-6 fatty acid in the brain. According to Martek, "life'sARA™ is important for proper infant brain development and physical growth."

In 2008, the Cornucopia Institute analyzed scientific studies and concluded that there was little evidence to support Martek's claims that DHA and ARA additives benefit brain and eye development. In 2010, Cornucopia again reviewed the literature, including a comprehensive meta-analysis published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews shortly after the first report. The most recently updated version of this review, published in December 2011, concluded that "feeding term infants with milk formula enriched with LCPUFA [long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids such as DHA and ARA] had no proven benefit regarding vision, cognition, or physical growth."

GM but Recommended for Approval for Organic List?
Martek's DHA and ARA oils have been recommended by the USDA National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) for addition to the "National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances." However, these additives are produced using methods of genetic modification such as "microencapsulation," which is expressly banned by the USDA National Organic Program definition of "Excluded methods" (Title 7, § 205.2 of the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations).

Previous USDA Scandal
In 2006, according to the Washington Post, FDA staff members determined that the companies producing organic baby formula were not permitted to add DHA and ARA to their formulas, both of which are Martek products. However, the decision was overruled by deputy U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Organic Program (NOP) administrator Barbara Robinson. The move was highly controversial. DHA and ARA were not approved synthetics by the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) because a potential neurotoxin called hexane is used in the production process for the fatty acids.

FDA Concerns
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conditionally approved Martek's DHA and ARA oil additives as "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS) in 2001. The FDA's letter to Martek accompanying its decision expressed the following concerns:


 * "[S]ome studies have reported unexpected deaths among infants who consumed formula supplemented with LCPUFAs. These unexpected deaths were attributed to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), sepsis or necrotizing enterocolitis. Also, some studies have reported adverse events and other morbidities including diarrhea, flatulence, jaundice, and apnea in infants fed LCPUFAs."

The decision notes that the approval of the ingredient does not negate the responsibility of infant formula manufacturers that include the additives to monitor and submit reports on adverse infant reactions to the FDA.

However, none of the companies selling formula and other products containing the DHA and ARA oils have monitored reactions to these products and reported back to the FDA, according to the 2009 results of a FOIA request made by Cornucopia. The 98 adverse reactions were self-reported.

Martek's additives are now added to more than 99 percent of American infant formulas, according to the company, as well as baby foods, supplements, milk and other food products. This includes 90 percent of formulas certified as organic by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), according to the Washington Post.

History
According to the Baltimore Sun, "Martek Biosciences Corp. was started in the mid-1980s by a group of defense and aerospace scientists who wanted to study the effects of algae on humans in long-term spaceflight."

Executive Officers

 * Peter A. Nitze, CEO and President
 * Kenneth Oh, VP and CFO
 * Gertjan de Koning, Chief Operating Officer
 * David M. Feitel, Executive VP, General Counsel and Secretary

Executive Compensation
Martek's self-reported executive compensation in 2009:


 * Steve Dubin, CEO and Director: $929,465
 * David M. Abramson, President: $726,684
 * Peter L. Buzy, CFO, Treasurer, and Executive VP: $721,722
 * Peter A. Nitze, Chief Operating Officer and Executive VP: $843,243
 * David M. Feitel, Executive VP and General Counsel: $583,306

Lobbying
Martek spent $600,000 on lobbying expenditures in 2010 and $375,000 in 2011.

Contact
6480 Dobbin Road Columbia, MD 21045 Phone: 410-740-0081 Fax: 410-740-2985 Email: contactus at martek dot com

Other SourceWatch Articles

 * Dr. Alan Greene, who publicly endorses Martek's DHA and ARA oil additives
 * William J. Friedman
 * Cornucopia Institute

PRWatch Articles

 * Rebekah Wilce, Spinning Suspect Ingredients in Baby Formula, PRWatch.org, February 22, 2012.

External Resources

 * Cornucopia Institute, Replacing Mother: Imitating Human Breast Milk in the Laboratory, organizational report, January 2008 and May 2010.
 * Alexis Baden-Mayer, Organic Consumers Association. GMO Ingredients in Organic Baby Food?, organizational report, November 30, 2011.