Farmers, grain exporters sue Syngenta over GMO corn

• Corn farmers have filed several federal class action lawsuits against Syngenta Corp. over its GMO MIR162 (Agrisure Viptera) seed.
  Suits were filed in Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska alleging the farmers were damaged by Syngenta’s premature release of the seed into the U.S. market before receiving import approval from China. Grain exporters Cargill and Trans Coastal Supply Co. also have filed suit.
  The lawsuits claim Syngenta’s continued marketing of MIR162 corn in the U.S. has caused U.S. corn to be excluded from China, and domestic corn prices have been harmed as a result.
  Syngenta says the trait “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.”
  Meanwhile, Syngenta says it applied for cultivation approval of MIR162 in China, but later halted the process to focus on gaining import permission for it.
  Cargill and Trans Coastal Supply claim they have suffered combined damages of more than $130 million after China began rejecting U.S. corn exports.
  Syngenta says the lawsuits are without merit.
  "Syngenta followed common industry practice and initially applied for cultivation approval of MIR162 in China. However, we later stopped this work to focus solely on the import application," Syngenta spokesman Paul Minehart said.