A group of Texas corn farmers have filed a Syngenta lawsuit alleging the GMO corn seed manufactured by the company caused their businesses to suffer financially.

Plaintiffs Kenneth B., Scott L., Otis S., William W., Linda W. and the Wright Family LP are suing the Syngenta Corporation for misleading those in the corn industry into believing that their Viptera genetically modified corn seed would be approved by China, the third largest corn importer, despite knowing that if it was rejected, U.S. farmers would face a devastating economic loss.

The plaintiffs who are all in the business of planting, growing, harvesting, gathering, distributing, and selling corn, claim that the premature release ofSyngenta GMO corn seed destroyed the U.S. corn export market and diminished the price of domestic corn as well.

The Syngenta GMO corn lawsuit states that even the future of the export business is at risk. “An exporter’s reputational loss in an agricultural commodity market due to an event, such as GMO contamination, can persist for many years. Once an exporter has lost a foreign market, it is difficult to recapture it,” the Syngenta corn lawsuit claims.

The Syngenta lawsuit also alleges the company failed in its “stewardship obligation” with corn farmers by not adhering to its own “code of conduct.” According to Syngenta’s code of conduct posted on their website, they “provide innovative, reliable, high-quality products and have safeguards to protect stakeholders.”

Plaintiffs claim that using Syngenta corn seed caused the virtual halt of U.S. corn sales in China and placed stakeholders in a vulnerable position, as worldwide prices of U.S. corn exports have since started to spiral downward. The plaintiffs are collectively seeking more than $75,000 in damages.

Syngenta GMO Corn

The Syngenta genetically modified corn strain known as MIR162 or Viptera was designed and marketed to U.S. corn farmers in 2010. The company claimed that the new corn seed was a better defense against common corn pests, including earworms and black cutworms. U.S. farmers started buying the product allegedly based on promises that China Viptera approval of the GMO corn was soon to come.

China regulators not only rejected the GMO corn strain, but the country also took an even stronger stance and decided to ban all U.S. corn imports with traces of Viptera. This decision resulted in the loss of billions of dollars between farmers, corn brokers, and corn exporters.

Prior to the ban, China typically imported about 2.5 million tons of corn from the United States annually; however, after being rejected by the third largest corn importer, sales around the world were down by 85 percent.

Syngenta Lawsuits

More than 10,000 Syngenta lawsuits have been filed so far by those in the corn industry who lost substantial income when China banned Viptera corn. If you are part of the U.S. corn industry as a farmer, corn broker, or corn exporter and experienced a financial loss after China’s ban of U.S. GMO corn, you may have legal claim.

The Syngenta Lawsuit is Case No. 2:15-cv-09133-JWL-JPO in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division.