Biotech corn mistakenly sold

SAN FRANCISCO -- Swiss biotechnology company Syngenta AG said yesterday it mistakenly sold to farmers an experimental corn seed genetically engineered to resist bugs that was never approved by US regulators.

Hundreds of tons of the resulting corn crop were shipped to consumers and overseas between 2001 and 2004, but three US government agencies investigating said there was no health or environmental risk because of the seed's similarity to another Syngenta product approved for sale and consumption by federal regulators.

''While there are no safety concerns, the regulatory agencies are conducting investigations to determine the circumstances surrounding and extent of any violations of relevant laws and regulations," said Cynthia Bergman, an Environmental Protection Agency spokeswoman. ''The US government is also communicating with our major trading partners to ensure they understand there are no food safety or environmental concerns that could affect trade."

The Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration are also investigating.


more

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/biotechnology/articles/2005/03/23/biotech_corn_mistakenly_sold/

Zero google hits so you own it.

if i'd have just copyrighted that "0's & 1's" idea i had a few years ago...

I wonder how much they get from Syngenta? I also bet this was no fucking "mistake".

Is one of the factors that cannot be controlled!

Even if we don't want it we COULD get it anyway.:wtf:

that they have no idea what the long term effects of this corn will be.


Note to gardeners: play it safe, go to your local nursery and buy open pollinated seeds and plants! They can be found-pm me and I can give you a source!

i'm not sure which sentence I choked on more: that it was released by mistake or that there's no risk because it's similar to an approved strain....

Ooops did I do that?

But things like this happen, and it is really hard to tell if the corn you are planting has been cross-pollinated, or if the corn around us has been. We will try the best we can though.

there are firms that can easily and readily ID markers that are used in cloning. They are doing big business now since growers have big clients that want non-GMO commodity.

I have a bad feeling that organic seed will not survive this onslaught.