Illegal corn went worldwide/GMO crop scandal shows industry out of control and c

[Guest guest]

GMW: Illegal corn went worldwide/GMO crop scandal shows

industry out of control and culture of secrecy

 

" GM WATCH " <info

 

 

Wed, 23 Mar 2005 11:38:52 GMT

 

 

Illegal corn went worldwide/GMO crop scandal shows industry out of

control and culture of secrecy

 

GM WATCH daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

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Th harvested rogue corn may have been exported to the European Union

and more than a dozen other countries, according to item 2

 

1.GMO crop scandal - Did Syngenta's illegal corn come to Europe?

2.US probes sale of GM corn - Wired News

 

EXCERPTS:

 

" This is an industry out of control. For four years Syngenta failed to

notice that they were selling farmers an unapproved genetically

modified seed. How are consumers and farmers supposed to trust them to

produce

our food in the future? This case makes a complete mockery of the US

regulatory system for GM crops. To make matters worse the US Government

has known about this accident for months and together with Syngenta

decided to keep it a secret until now. This is complete scandal. " -

Adrian

Bebb, , Friends of the Earth Europe (item 1)

 

" It's a massive failure of the U.S. regulatory system. They didn't know

about this until the end of 2004 and they only found out quite by

chance. That tells you how poorly companies are monitoring the

experiments

they do... This is certainly going to be a big problem for the United

States. " - Sujatha Byravan, executive director of the Council for

Responsible Genetics, a nonprofit biotechnology interest group based in

Cambridge, Massachusetts (item 2)

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FRIENDS OF THE EARTH EUROPE

 

Press release for immediate release: Wednesday 23 March 2005

 

Contact : Adrian Bebb, Friends of the Earth Europe + 49 1609 490 1163

(mobile)

 

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GMO crop scandal - Did Syngenta's illegal corn come to Europe?

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Brussels, 23 March 2005 - Friends of the Earth has written to the

European Commission asking for urgent reassurance that unapproved

genetically modified (GM) corn has not been imported into Europe. The

threat was

highlighted as Swiss-based Syngenta admitted yesterday that they

inadvertently sold hundreds of tonnes of the wrong GM corn to US

farmers over

the past four years.

 

According to Nature, who published a story on their website last night

(22 March), Syngenta produced and sold several hundred tonnes of a corn

containing an insecticide, called Bt10 between 2001 and 2004. The corn

has not been approved for human consumption anywhere worldwide.

According to the article, Syngenta and the US Government have been in

discussions since last year over what should be done about the error,

and how

and when information should be released to the public.

 

Adrian Bebb, GM campaigner for Friends of the Earth said:

 

" This is an industry out of control. For four years Syngenta failed to

notice that they were selling farmers an unapproved genetically

modified seed. How are consumers and farmers supposed to trust them to

produce

our food in the future? This case makes a complete mockery of the US

regulatory system for GM crops. To make matters worse the US Government

has known about this accident for months and together with Syngenta

decided to keep it a secret until now. This is complete scandal. "

 

" Friends of the Earth is seeking urgent assurances from the European

Commission that this corn was not imported illegally into Europe. The

public will be concerned that they may have been exposed to unapproved GM

foods and will demand answers. The Commission should insist that the US

withdraws all corn suspected of contamination. "

 

Contact: Adrian Bebb, + 49 1609 490 1163 (mobile)

 

http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050321/full/nature03570.html

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2.US probes sale of GM corn

Wired News, Mar. 23, 2005

 

One of the world's largest agrochemical companies distributed several

hundred tons of an unapproved strain of genetically modified corn seed

over the past four years, according to a report released Tuesday by the

scientific journal Nature.

 

The experimental seed, called Bt 10, distributed primarily in the

United States by Swiss firm Syngenta, is not believed to pose a safety

risk

to humans or the environment, according to the U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency. However, critics of genetically modified foods say the

incident is a wake-up call to regulators who have not done enough to

monitor the industry.

 

Syngenta claims the incident was the result of a mix-up between the

experimental seed and a very similar, approved strain. The EPA, the U.S.

Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration have

launched a joint investigation.

 

" Syngenta voluntarily reported its unintended production of (seed

strain) Bt 10, and is cooperating with the investigation, " said the

EPA in a

statement dated Monday. " The company has also taken steps to ensure no

further amounts (of) Bt 10 enter the seed or food supply. "

 

Syngenta notified regulators of the error in December 2004, according

to Anne Burt, the company's director of corporate communications.

 

The company first learned of the problem when it updated its equipment

to perform DNA tests on its seeds, according to a statement provided by

Burt. Earlier protein-based tests could not distinguish between the

experimental Bt 10 seed and the government-approved Bt 11 strain, because

both produce the same proteins.

 

Both strains contain a gene from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis

that makes them more resistant to insects than unmodified corn. (The Bt

in the strains' names comes from the bacterium's name.)

 

The amount of Bt 10 corn planted in the United States is comparatively

small, accounting for just 0.01 percent of the entire U.S. corn crop

between 2001 and 2004, according to Burt. In addition, all current Bt 10

plantings and unused seeds have been destroyed or isolated for later

destruction, she said.

 

Still, watchdog groups say they are shocked that such a mix-up could

happen.

 

" It's a massive failure of the U.S. regulatory system, " said Sujatha

Byravan, executive director of the Council for Responsible Genetics, a

nonprofit biotechnology interest group based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

" They didn't know about this until the end of 2004 and they only found

out quite by chance. That tells you how poorly companies are monitoring

the experiments they do. "

 

The incident may have an effect beyond U.S. borders. A small portion of

harvested Bt 10 corn may have been exported to the European Union and

more than a dozen other countries, said Burt. The United States and the

European Union are at odds over how closely to track the movements of

genetically modified crops, with European regulators pushing for tighter

controls.

 

" This is certainly going to be a big problem for the United States, "

said Byravan. " This shows a need for the measures to trace GM crops that

the Europeans have been calling for. "

 

The EPA said in its statement that the U.S. government is contacting

" major trading partners to ensure they understand there are no

food-safety or environmental concerns that could affect trade. "

 

 

 

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