Japan finds 9th U.S. corn cargo tainted with Bt-10
Japan's Agriculture Ministry said it discovered a ninth U.S. feed grain cargo tainted with Bt-10 biotech corn, and has told the importer to destroy it or ship it back to the United States.
Initially,
Syngeta said not to worry about Bt10 because it's exactly like Bt11.
After that was debunked (Bt10 has an antibiotic resistance marker gene)
they then said not to worry because it never will make it into the food
supply. Japan has found it's 9th shipment of corn containing Bt10 and
Syngenta has had no public response.
Original Story
TOKYO, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Japan's Agriculture Ministry said it discovered a ninth U.S. feed grain cargo tainted with Bt-10 biotech corn, and has told the importer to destroy it or ship it back to the United States.
The tainted cargo arrived on Aug. 1 at the port of Shibushi on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu, the ministry said in a statement issued late Monday. Samples containing Bt-10 were taken from 5,963 tonnes of corn in the vessel.
The ministry did not name the importer.
Samples from the U.S. feed corn cargo tested positive for traces of Bt-10, a genetically modified (GMO) corn strain made by Swiss agrochemicals group Syngenta AG that has not been approved for distribution.
Syngenta said in March that some of its corn seeds in the United States had been mistakenly contaminated with Bt-10 from 2001 to 2004.
It was the ninth discovery since the ministry started random tests on arriving U.S. feed corn cargoes on May 23.
Japan has a zero-tolerance policy on imports of unapproved GMO crops. The ministry has proposed accepting feed grain cargoes with up to 1 percent of Bt-10 corn, to smooth the flow of U.S. corn supplies to Japan's livestock industry. But the plan is subject to approval by Japan's Food Safety Commission, an independent agency.
More contaminated cargoes will likely be found, as the ministry has stepped up its tests to cover all U.S. corn cargoes.
The chances of finding contaminated cargoes are expected to become slimmer when newly harvested U.S. corn starts to reach Japan around November, a ministry official said.
To ensure tainted supplies are not shipped to Japan, the ministry has told importers of U.S. corn they must obtain certificates stating the cargoes do not contain Bt-10.
Some U.S. grain shippers have started testing their corn shipments to Japan, in response to requests from Japanese importers. But others are reluctant to do so because of high costs and extra work to arrange tests, traders said.
Original Story
TOKYO, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Japan's Agriculture Ministry said it discovered a ninth U.S. feed grain cargo tainted with Bt-10 biotech corn, and has told the importer to destroy it or ship it back to the United States.
The tainted cargo arrived on Aug. 1 at the port of Shibushi on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu, the ministry said in a statement issued late Monday. Samples containing Bt-10 were taken from 5,963 tonnes of corn in the vessel.
The ministry did not name the importer.
Samples from the U.S. feed corn cargo tested positive for traces of Bt-10, a genetically modified (GMO) corn strain made by Swiss agrochemicals group Syngenta AG that has not been approved for distribution.
Syngenta said in March that some of its corn seeds in the United States had been mistakenly contaminated with Bt-10 from 2001 to 2004.
It was the ninth discovery since the ministry started random tests on arriving U.S. feed corn cargoes on May 23.
Japan has a zero-tolerance policy on imports of unapproved GMO crops. The ministry has proposed accepting feed grain cargoes with up to 1 percent of Bt-10 corn, to smooth the flow of U.S. corn supplies to Japan's livestock industry. But the plan is subject to approval by Japan's Food Safety Commission, an independent agency.
More contaminated cargoes will likely be found, as the ministry has stepped up its tests to cover all U.S. corn cargoes.
The chances of finding contaminated cargoes are expected to become slimmer when newly harvested U.S. corn starts to reach Japan around November, a ministry official said.
To ensure tainted supplies are not shipped to Japan, the ministry has told importers of U.S. corn they must obtain certificates stating the cargoes do not contain Bt-10.
Some U.S. grain shippers have started testing their corn shipments to Japan, in response to requests from Japanese importers. But others are reluctant to do so because of high costs and extra work to arrange tests, traders said.
Farmers Markets Say No to GMOs
