June 9, 2005

Syngenta seeks FDA approval for Bt10 corn commercialisation

Following Japan's discovery of unapproved Bt10 corn from the US, Syngenta AG would be seeking US Food and Drug Administration approval for the commercialisation of this corn to allay Japanese safety concerns.

Japan said it would test every US corn shipment upon arrival for traces of Bt10 after finding two cases last week. 

If the FDA approves the corn, Japan could set a tolerance level for Bt10 in their US corn imports, Syngenta said.

US agriculture secretary has assured that the Bt10 corn issue would not affect US corn sales to Japan.

Japan, the biggest buyer of American corn, has demanded Bt10 testing to be done at US ports and that the tests are paid for by the US government or Syngenta.

As Japan's annual corn purchase totals about 16 million tonnes with US accounting for 90 percent of it, such extra tests could be costly.

The Japanese government has a zero tolerance rule on imports of biotech crops for human consumption. However, feed grain imports may be allowed if they contain less than 1 percent of a biotech variety approved by other countries which conduct safety checks of gene-spliced crops.