Syngenta EU Corn Imports Prove Free of GMO Strain
Date: 27-Apr-05
Country: SWITZERLAND
Author: Pilar Wolfsteller
Last month, the Swiss agrochemicals company came under fire from environmentalists and food regulators on both sides of the Atlantic for accidentally mixing the unauthorized maize, called Bt-10, with another strain that had been approved by the EU in 1998, called Bt-11.
The mix-up, which occurred between 2001 and 2004, prompted a renewed discussion about the safety of genetically modified products in traditionally GMO-shy Europe.
Earlier this month, the EU blocked imports of grains unless there was proof the shipments were untainted by Bt-10, which had been engineered to resist the corn borer insect.
The approved Bt-11 strain is legal for food and feed use in the EU and other countries. "So far, 20 vessels have been tested since the programme began, and all have tested negative," Michael Mack, the head of Syngenta Seeds, told journalists on the sidelines of the annual shareholder meeting on Tuesday.
Certificates proving a cargo has no traces of Bt-10 must be issued by an internationally accredited laboratory on the basis of an EU-validated test provided by Syngenta. The measures will be reviewed in six months' time.
SYNGENTA FINED
US exporters send 3.5 million tonnes of corn gluten feed to Europe each year, a trade worth some 350 million euros ($449 million).
In March the US Department of Agriculture also fined Syngenta, the world's largest agrochemicals firm, $375,000 for the error.
Syngenta Chief Executive Michael Pragnell reassured shareholders at Tuesday's annual meeting that the food supply was safe and there would be no adverse financial effects.
"We regret the error, but there were no safety issues with Bt-10 because the proteins were identical as those in Bt-11," Pragnell said. He added that the Bt-10 seeds made up just one one-hundredth of a percent of the total seed sent to farmers.
Small amounts of seeds, up to 10 kilograms, arrived in France and Spain from US suppliers for research purposes. An estimated 1,000 tonnes entered the EU as food and animal feed, but it is still not clear to which countries.
Mack said all of the tainted seeds left over were destroyed before the 2005 planting season began and denied that the incident would turn Europeans against gene technology.
"I genuinely don't believe that this will set back the slow but forward-moving process of GMO acceptance in Europe," Mack said. "Syngenta is not going to have this mistake happen again."
