USDA Fines Syngenta for Illegal Biotech Corn
Date: 11-Apr-05
Country: USA
Author: Randy Fabi
The incident has sparked concerns in Europe, Japan and South Korea that US exports may be tainted with the illegal corn. Consumers in those markets have long been skittish about gene-spliced food and its long-term impact on human health and the environment.
The Swiss agrochemicals group announced last month that some of its corn seeds were mistakenly contaminated between 2001 and 2004 with Bt10, an insect-resistant strain that was not approved for US distribution.
The US Agriculture Department, which regulates field testing of new biotech crops, imposed the fine and required Syngenta to develop a training program to prevent another occurrence.
"While the amount of Bt10 corn that was mistakenly supplied represents an extremely small quantity, we fully accept and will abide by the USDA's decision and requirements," said Mike Mack, chief operating officer of Syngenta Seeds.
Syngenta could face another fine from the US Environmental Protection Agency, which is conducting its own investigation. Various aspects of biotech crops are regulated by the USDA, EPA and the Food and Drug Administration.
If the EPA finds violations of its regulations, industry experts said the fine could be much larger than the USDA's.
NO RISK TO CONSUMERS
Syngenta discovered the contamination last December and alerted government officials, but did not publicly disclose the information until March 22. The USDA said it did not recall the product because the corn was considered harmless.
"EPA and USDA have reviewed scientific information and have concluded that there are no human or animal health or environmental concerns with Bt10 corn," the USDA said.
The contaminated seed was planted on some 37,000 acres in four US states during the four-year period. The Bt10 variety is engineered to resist the corn borer insect.
The unapproved corn was mixed with another biotech strain, Bt11, and sold as seed, food and animal feed in the United States and the European Union.
Bt11 is approved for food and feed use in the United States, Japan, Canada, the European Union and other countries. The company said the two strains are virtually identical.
Syngenta said there was a chance some unapproved corn seeped into US export shipments, but any amount "would have been in very small volumes."
EU MULLS BAN
The EU Executive Commission said on Friday it might halt imports of US biotech animal feed because of the incident.
An estimated 1,000 tonnes of Bt10 corn entered the EU as food and animal feed. The European Commission wants Syngenta to help it identify Bt10 so it can differentiate the two types of biotech corn and trace the tainted consignments.
Japan and South Korea, major buyers of US corn, have also begun monitoring US shipments to detect any contamination with the unapproved strain. Japanese corn importers, who often start buying in early April for July-September shipments, were likely to remain on the sidelines for some weeks due to the contamination, traders said this week.
(Additional reporting by Aine Gallagher in Brussels)
