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Syngenta (a Swiss-based global agribusiness), recently announced that Chinese officials have approved Viptera corn seed for import. The genetically modified corn has sparked 762 lawsuits against Syngenta because China originally rejected shipments of U.S. crops due to traces of Viptera corn. The Syngenta corn lawsuits accused the company of selling the corn seed to U.S. farmers before it was approved for export to China, one of the world’s largest importers of American corn.
What Is Agrisure Viptera Corn?
Syngenta engineered a corn trait known as MIR162, which makes plants resistant to corn pests. Syngenta spent five to seven years and $200 million developing the trait, according to court documents. The company began selling it commercially to U.S. growers in 2011 as Agrisure Viptera, after approval by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2010. Viptera has been planted in about 2.8 million acres of corn fields across the U.S.
China Bans GMO Corn
In November 2013, China began enforcing a zero tolerance policy for the presence of Syngenta’s Agrisure Viptera in corn imports. This development resulted in a series of trade disruptions when Viptera corn subsequently was detected in U.S shipments of corn and dried grains. These disruptions effectively shut U.S. corn farmers out of China’s feed grain import market, which previously almost exclusively had been supplied by the United States.
The vast majority of U.S. corn has been effectively excluded from what was previously the third largest export market for U.S. corn. Since November 2013 it is estimated that China has refused 1.45 million metric tons of Viptera GMO corn as well as eight additional shipments of GMO corn, much of it due to Syngenta MIR162 contaminates.
Impact of Syngenta’s Corn Problem
In an April 2014 report, The National Grain and Feed Association estimated that China’s ban on the Syngenta GMO Corn has cost $2.9 billion in economic losses to the U.S. corn, distillers grains and soy sectors. The organization also estimated that U.S. growers, grain handlers and exporters could suffer an economic impact of up to $3.4 billion during the fiscal year that started September 1, 2014.
Last fiscal year, China was the third largest export market for U.S. corn, at 5 million tons. Since its inspectors started turning away shipments showing traces of Viptera corn, the country’s purchases of U.S. corn have fallen by 85 percent and, according to Syngenta corn lawsuits, helped to drive corn prices to a five-year low.
Syngenta Corn Lawsuits
Despite China Viptera approval, many feel that the financial damage to U.S. corn farmers has already been done and Syngenta Viptera lawsuits will progress despite the latest news that Viptera corn will now be accepted by China.
Syngenta corn lawsuits allege that farms and other agricultural entities suffered economic losses as a result of the introduction of Viptera corn seed to the U.S. corn market prior to China’s approval of the genetic modification known as MIR162, which characterizes Viptera corn
More than 762 Syngenta corn lawsuits have been filed, contending China’s rejection of all U.S. corn shipments caused the farmers to suffer economic damages and caused a significant drop in corn prices
On Dec. 11, 2014, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation transferred all federally filed Syngenta corn lawsuits to the U.S. District Court, District of Kansas (In Re: Syngenta AG MIR 162 Corn Litigation – MDL No. 2591). The judicial panel found that the GMO corn complaints of the farmers, grain processors and exporters all had common factual questions regarding Syngenta’s decision to commercialize its corn before receiving China’s approval to import the genetically modified corn.
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