After China banned imports of genetically-modified (GMO) corn seed, American farmers allegedly lost billions of dollars because much of the supply was contaminated with trace amounts of Viptera corn, a GMO seed invented by the Swiss company Syngenta AG.

Now Syngenta AG is facing over 1,400 lawsuits involving economic losses from Viptera corn, including individual lawsuits from corn farmers and major exporters who were financially devastated and are pursuing Syngenta lawsuits to recoup financial losses they incurred due to China’s refusal to accept U.S. corn imports.

As of April 15, federal judges have quadrupled the size of the federal litigation involving Syngenta GMO corn, transferring the more than 1,400 cases into one centralized litigation in Kansas (In Re: Syngenta AG MIR 162 Corn Litigation).

The Issue With Syngenta Viptera Corn

At issue is Syngenta’s 2009 release and distribution of its MIR162 genetically modified corn, known as Agrisure Viptera. Syngenta AG allegedly started asking China to approve imports of its GMO corn seeds in 2010. That same year, the United States approved the MIR162 seed and a small percentage of corn farmers planted it.

However, more than 1.45 million metric tons of American corn were tainted with trace amounts of Viptera corn because nearly all corn is stored and transported on shared equipment. China did not approve imports of the seed until December 2014. By that time, farmers had lost an estimated $1 billion.

Plaintiffs accuse Syngenta of aggressively and recklessly marketing MIR162 before it was approved for import into China, the third-largest customer of American corn.

Syngenta Litigation

In the wake of China’s decision to reject U.S. corn shipments, farmers in Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and other corn growing states filed Syngenta lawsuits seeking compensation for their losses. In December, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ordered that all pending Syngenta lawsuits, as well as those filed in the future, be transferred to Kansas federal court for coordinated pretrial proceedings.

All of the Syngenta lawsuits pending in the litigation claim that Syngenta misled farmers by marketing GMO corn without ensuring that crops with the trait could be exported to China. Plaintiffs further allege that the company’s handling of Viptera corn may ultimately cost U.S. farmers as much as $2.9 billion.

The Syngenta Viptera Corn MDL is In Re: Syngenta AG MIR 162 Corn Litigation, MDL No. 2591, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.