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Lawsuits mounting against Syngenta for its GMO seed 
 


By DOUG SCHMITZ
Iowa Correspondent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Seed hybrid behemoth Syngenta Corp. is facing a growing number of federal class-action lawsuits against its genetically modified (GMO) MIR 162 seed Agrisure Viptera that American corn farmers say was released into the U.S. market without import approval from China.
“Syngenta must be held accountable for its blatant misrepresentations to U.S. corn farmers,” said James Pizzirusso, a partner with the Washington, D.C.-based Hausfeld, LLP law firm. “By promoting and marketing a genetically-modified corn seed before the seed had received import approval from China, Syngenta placed its own profit margins over corn farmers’ livelihoods.”
More than 50 lawsuits have been filed since Oct. 3 against the Greensboro, N.C.-based company in 11 major corn-growing states, including Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and Nebraska, with the latest filed by Chicago-based Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM).
Agrisure Viptera, a GMO seed that has been alleged to contain a protein that kills corn-eating bugs such as earworms and cutworms, could result in losses to farmers estimated around $1 billion, according to the lawsuit, coordinated by Hausfeld.
“Syngenta’s decision has been economically devastating to U.S. corn farmers,” Pizzirusso stated in the lawsuit.
Since last November, China has stopped importing U.S. corn when it detects traces of MIR162 in shipments, giving no indication of when, or if, it will approve Syngenta’s GMO seed to allow these imports to continue.
The lawsuits allege Syngenta’s decision to continue marketing MIR162 corn in the United States – despite the lack of import approval from China – has caused U.S. corn to be “effectively excluded from China and domestic corn prices to be detrimentally impacted as a result,” Pizzirusso said, especially since China has previously served as the third-largest export market for U.S. corn.
Planted on about 3 percent of U.S. corn acres during the past two years, MIR162 can be found throughout the American supply chain because it has not been segregated from other varieties since its launch in 2011, Thomson Reuters news service reported Nov. 19, concerning ADM’s lawsuit against Syngenta.
“These rejections have resulted in very substantial losses to U.S. exporters who have had their shipments to China turned away, including tens of millions of dollars in damages to ADM,” ADM said in its lawsuit, which was filed in a Louisiana state court.
In response, Syngenta said in a company statement about a similar lawsuit against Syngenta Seeds, Inc. – also filed in a Louisiana state court by Minnetonka, Minn.-based Cargill, Inc. – “the lawsuit is without merit and strongly upholds the right of growers to have access to approved new technologies that can increase both their productivity and their profitability.
“The Agrisure Viptera trait (MIR162) was approved for cultivation in the U.S. in 2010. Syngenta commercialized the trait in full compliance with regulatory and legal requirements. Syngenta also obtained import approval from major corn importing countries.”
Moreover, Syngenta said it has been fully transparent in commercializing the trait over the last four years. “During this time, Agrisure Viptera has demonstrated major benefits for growers, preventing significant yield and grain quality losses resulting from damage by a broad spectrum of lepidopteran pests,” the company statement read.
But according to Pizzirusso, Syngenta has attempted to downplay and misrepresent the significance of the export market for corn on U.S. corn prices, China’s key role in the U.S. export market and the timing of Chinese approval of MIR162. He alleges this was done with the intention of encouraging farmers to continue to buy and plant its MIR162 corn, while knowing it would contaminate and impact the export market.
The lawsuit further contended Syngenta repeatedly suggested China’s approval of MIR162 would happen imminently when, in fact, Syngenta officials knew China was no closer to approving MIR162. For more information, corn farmers can contact James Pizzirusso at 202-540-7154.
11/26/2014