Syngenta told to explain GM blunder

By Jerome Glass

Date: 07/04/05

The European Commission and environmental groups have reacted with fury this week to the news that an unauthorised strain of genetically modified (GM) maize has been exported to the EU.

The crop, known as Bt10, and produced by the Swiss-based biotechnology company, Syngenta, had been inadvertently mixed up with another strain of GM maize, Bt11, which has been approved in the EU and was imported via the same channels. The mistake was only noticed in December of last year. Since 2001, an estimated 150 square kilometres of the crop have been cultivated in the US, 1,000 tonnes of which has entered the EU food chain.

Syngenta and the US authorities have been quick to emphasise that there is no danger to health or the environment from Bt10, which is almost identical to the approved Bt11 except that it contains an antibiotic marker gene. A spokesman from Syngenta pointed out that Bt10 was unauthorised in the EU not because it had been refused approval but because authorisation had not been sought as the product was deemed uncompetitive.

Nevertheless, reacting to the news, European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, Markos Kyprianou said: "The European Commission deplores the fact that a GM which has not been authorised through the EU's comprehensive legislative framework… has been imported into the EU."

Aside from the actual import of Bt10 itself, which Jorgo Riss, the director of Greenpeace's European unit, described

as "absolutely shocking", environmental groups say that two other aspects of the case are cause for particular concern.

The delay between the date the US authorities were informed in December and the date when they told the Commission that Bt10 had been exported to the EU on 22 March raises questions about the effectiveness of procedures for controlling the spread of the crops.

Geert Ritsema, GM campaign coordinator for Friends of the Earth (FoE), labelled the delay "outrageous" and claimed that the US authorities were "withholding information that is vital for food safety".

Similarly, the fact that Syngenta had not mentioned the presence in Bt10 of an antibiotic marker gene in their original statement was seen by opponents of GMs as evidence of the company putting out misleading information to the public about their products. A spokesman from Syngenta defended the delay, saying: "When we informed the US authorities, they immediately undertook an investigation and it is not normal to issue public statements whilst an investigation is going on." The task of informing the EU once the investigation had been completed was, according to Syngenta, "in the hands of the US authorities".

Simon Barber, director of plant biotechnology at EuropaBio, which represents biotechnology companies, said: "From what I understand, there is absolutely no danger to either health or the environment."

Amid confusion over the information put out by Syngenta and the Commission concerning the composition of Bt10, which the Commission describes as "regrettable", the EU executive has now written to the company for full details about the crop. According to a Commission spokesman, this information has still not been transmitted, although detection information is expected by the end of this week. Environmental groups claim that a lack of information about

the make-up of a GM that has been approved in the US demonstrates that the Commission's framework for tracing GMs is not as comprehensive as it should be.

In the words of FoE's Ritsema, "the monitoring system has failed and the Commission just does not have the basic material they need to control the market".

The European Commission on 1 April 2005 wrote to the US authorities and to the biotechnology company Syngenta requesting clarification of the situation regarding the unauthorised genetically modified maize Bt10. The crop which was produced by the Swiss-based biotechnology company, had been inadvertently mixed up with another strain of GM maize, Bt11, which had been approved in the EU and was imported via the same channels.

European Commission: Press Release: IP/05/382 http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/05/382&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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