August 10, 2007

 

Japan to give greenlight to Syngenta GMO corn seed 

 

 

Traders in Japan are raving on the good news that the Japanese government is set to approve Syngenta AG's genetically modified corn seed for use in food and animal feed.

 

The approval set a relief to traders who feared unapproved seed could contaminate cargoes from the United States.

 

Japan's Food Safety Commission said on Thursday (August 9) it would advise the farm ministry that Agrisure RW which makes the corn resistant to the crop-damaging insect root worm, is safe for feed use. The commission also said the trait is also safe for human consumption.

 

The recommendation, together with another last week on food use, ends the commission's risk assessment on the seed that began in May 2006, paving the way for the government to formally approve entry of GM corn as early as next month.

 

Japan, the top buyer of US corn, has a zero-tolerance policy on imports of unapproved GM crops. Delays in the approval of Agrisure RW may have hurt US corn exports to Japan, which totalled some 11.8 million tonnes last year, worth more than 200 billion yen ($1.7 billion). US is the biggest grain supplier to Japan.

 

The Swiss agrochemicals company Syngenta launched Agrisure RW in the United States this year to help farmers boost yields to meet strong demand for corn in food, feed and fuel usages.

 

However, the approval has sparked concerns among US grain firms, such as Bunge Ltd. and Cargill Inc. and Japanese importers on any accidental mixed out on non-GM seeds.

 

In the first six months of 2007, an average cost per tonne of imported feed corn from the United States rose more than 50 percent from a year earlier, according to the finance ministry data, reflecting high freight rates, a weaker yen and a climb in corn prices to a 10-year high earlier this year.

 

Syngenta was under the highlight in 2005 for accidentally mixing Bt-10 corn, a GMO not authorised in Europe, into approved biotech seeds between 2001 and 2004.

 

In 2000, a biotech corn variety called Starlink, which was approved for feed use but not as food in the United States, was detected in the food chain, causing a sharp drop in Japan's imports of US origin.

 

Syngenta has required US farmers to sign an agreement that they will only deliver the corn to non-export facilities.

 

Once formally approved, the seed would become the 25th GMO corn approved for food and feed usage in Japan, including those resistant to root worm developed by Monsanto Co. and DuPont Co., according to the farm ministry's data.