Vietnam approves 3 varieties of GM corn

• 

  freeimages.com

  Vietnam’s government has approved three varieties of Syngenta GM corn to be grown by the nation’s farmers.

  From WATTAgNet:
  Vietnam’s government has approved three varieties of Syngenta genetically modified (GM) corn to be grown by the nation’s farmers.
  The three varieties, NK66 BT, NK66 GT and NK66 BT/GT, will be supplied to corn farms across the country with each variety distributed to specific regions.
  NK66 BT will be supplied to regions with European corn borers, NK66 GT for places with strong weeds and NK66 BT/GT for farms susceptible to borers and weeds.
  The country’s dependence on imports has resulted in more Vietnamese officials and scientists touting the need for GM corn.
  Vietnam imports 1.5 million tons of corn annually for animal feed. The imports come from Brazil, Argentina and the United States.
  However, some say developing countries are not the right place to introduce GM crops.
  "Vietnam does not have a monitoring or testing system in place that it can use to assess the safety of foods made from GMOs in the country or imported from abroad," Genna Reed, a researcher at the Washington-based Food & Water Watch, said in a report.
  "This is an egregious example of biotechnology companies jumping the gun on the use of their novel technology without having an adequate regulatory system in place."