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Thursday August 9, 6:25 PMJapan set to approve Syngenta GMO corn seedTOKYO, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Japan looks set to approve Syngenta AG's genetically modified corn seed as safe for use in food and animal feed, a relief to traders who feared unapproved seed could contaminate cargoes from the United States.Japan's Food Safety Commission said on Thursday it would tell the farm ministry that the seed, which contains a trait called Agrisure RW that makes the corn resistant to the crop-damaging insect root worm, is safe for feed use. The recommendation, together with another last week on food use, ends the commission's risk assessment on the seed that began in May 2006, paving the way for the government to formally approve Agrisure RW from as early as next month. "We conclude that there is no problem regarding the safety of livestock products from domestic animals taking this feed," chairman Takeshi Mikami said at a commission meeting. Japan, the top buyer of U.S. corn, has a zero-tolerance policy on imports of unapproved GMO crops. Delays in the approval of Agrisure RW could have hurt U.S. corn exports to Japan, which totalled some 11.8 million tonnes last year, worth more than 200 billion yen ($1.7 billion). The Swiss agrochemicals company Syngenta launched Agrisure RW in the United States this year to help farmers boost yields to meet strong demand for corn in food, feed and fuel usages. The introduction sparked concern among U.S. grain firms, such as Bunge Ltd. and Cargill Inc. [CARG.UL], and Japanese importers because any accidental commingling before approval could hurt exports from the United States, the single biggest supplier to Japan. "It's good to hear," said Nobuyuki Chino, president at trading firm Unipac Grain Ltd in Tokyo. "Importing costs are presistently high, but we now have one less thing to worry." In the first six months of 2007, an average cost per tonne of imported feed corn from the United States rose more than 50 percent from a year earlier, according to the finance ministry data, reflecting high freight rates, a weaker yen and a climb in corn prices to a 10-year high earlier this year. GMO CORN Syngenta came under fire in 2005 for accidentally mixing Bt-10 maize, a GMO not authorised in Europe, into approved biotech seeds between 2001 and 2004. In 2000, a biotech corn variety called Starlink, which was approved for feed use but not as food in the United States, was detected in the food chain, causing a sharp drop in Japan's imports of U.S. origin. While Agrisure RW is under scrutiny in Japan, the U.S. authorities have approved it as safe for use as food and animal feed. Thus, Syngenta has required U.S. farmers to sign an agreement that they will only deliver the corn to non-export facilities. "We now expect the (Japanese) approval to be in time for the harvesting of new crops," said Tomomi Sakamoto, biotechnology advocacy communication manager at Syngenta's Japanese subsidiary, Syngenta Japan KK. Once formally approved, the seed would become the 25th GMO corn approved for food and feed usage in Japan, including those resistant to root worm developed by Monsanto Co. and DuPont Co. , according to the farm ministry's data. Last week the Food Safety Commission told the health ministry that Agrisure RW is safe even if accidentally mixed with regular supplies for human food use. A health ministry official said it usually takes about a month before the government makes an official announcement on an approval with the commission's recommendation. |
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