www.czu.cz ; www.usab-tm.ro ; www.raupp.info

Tests of Syngenta animal feed and grains imported into the European Union
have shown the products to be free of a genetically modified (GMO) strain of
maize blocked by the EU, the company said, April 2005 by Pilar Wolfsteller.

Last month, the Swiss agrochemicals company came under fire from
environmentalists and food regulators on both sides of the Atlantic for
accidentally mixing the unauthorized maize, called Bt-10, with another
strain that had been approved by the EU in 1998, called Bt-11.

The mix-up, which occurred between 2001 and 2004, prompted a renewed
discussion about the safety of genetically modified products in
traditionally GMO-shy Europe.

Earlier this month, the EU blocked imports of grains unless there was proof
the shipments were untainted by Bt-10, which had been engineered to resist
the corn borer insect.

The approved Bt-11 strain is legal for food and feed use in the EU and other
countries. "So far, 20 vessels have been tested since the programme began,
and all have tested negative," Michael Mack, the head of Syngenta Seeds,
told journalists on the sidelines of the annual shareholder meeting on
Tuesday.

Certificates proving a cargo has no traces of Bt-10 must be issued by an
internationally accredited laboratory on the basis of an EU-validated test
provided by Syngenta. The measures will be reviewed in six months' time.


SYNGENTA FINED

US exporters send 3.5 million tonnes of corn gluten feed to Europe each
year, a trade worth some 350 million euros ($449 million).

In March the US Department of Agriculture also fined Syngenta, the world's
largest agrochemicals firm, $375,000 for the error.

Syngenta Chief Executive Michael Pragnell reassured shareholders at
Tuesday's annual meeting that the food supply was safe and there would be no
adverse financial effects.

"We regret the error, but there were no safety issues with Bt-10 because the
proteins were identical as those in Bt-11," Pragnell said. He added that the
Bt-10 seeds made up just one one-hundredth of a percent of the total seed
sent to farmers.

Small amounts of seeds, up to 10 kilograms, arrived in France and Spain from
US suppliers for research purposes. An estimated 1,000 tonnes entered the EU
as food and animal feed, but it is still not clear to which countries.

Mack said all of the tainted seeds left over were destroyed before the 2005
planting season began and denied that the incident would turn Europeans
against gene technology.

"I genuinely don't believe that this will set back the slow but
forward-moving process of GMO acceptance in Europe," Mack said. "Syngenta is
not going to have this mistake happen again."

[www.planetark.com]

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