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Plaintiffs suing Syngenta in GMO corn trait release

 

 

By JO ANN HUSTIS

Illinois Correspondent

 

CHICAGO, Ill. — Several Midwest corn growers, grain elevator operators and exporters are claiming significant economic damages stemming from alleged release, promotion and commercialization of the genetically engineered (GMO) MIR162 corn trait into the nation’s corn production.

Based on the claim, a class action lawsuit was filed in the Northern District Federal Court in Chicago on Oct. 6, and included demand for a jury trial. The plaintiffs are asking the court for monetary damages of at least $75,000 plus prejudgment interest, legal costs and whatever else the court decides is proper. The plaintiffs’ income is derived from the sale of their corn crops, the suit notes.

Chicago attorney Adam Levitt of Grant & Eisenhofer P.A. filed the lawsuit seeking damages and injunctive relief from defendant Syngenta Corp. of Wilmington, Del. Plaintiffs in the case include Munson Brothers Farm and farmers Daryl Sondgeroth and Matthew Sondgeroth of Mendota, Ill., and Union Line Farms, Inc. of Hopkinton, Iowa.

Nine similar class action complaints and one non-class action case are also pending against Syngenta in nine different federal district courts. All involve common questions of fact concerning Syngenta’s alleged commercialization of MIR162, the subsequent closure of the U.S. corn export market to China and misrepresentation of the timetable for Chinese approval of the genetic MIR162 trait.

So far, the China Farm Ministry has not approved imports of GMO corn from the United States with MIR162 traits. Syngenta applied to China for regulatory approval two years ago. It developed MIR162 to resist crop damage from corn earworm, fall armyworm, black cutworm and western bean cutworm.

Syngenta spent about $200 million and 5-7 years developing MIR162 (Viptera) corn, the complaint notes. The lawsuit charges the company with releasing the first generation of MIR162, known as Agrisure Viptera, into the U.S. market for distribution and corn planting in 2009. Release of the second generation, known as Agrisure Duracade, followed five years later in 2014.

Neither Union Line Farms, Munson Brothers Farm nor the Sondgeroths purchase MIR162 seed corn from Syngenta, the complaint states. The plaintiffs’ preferences are to purchase and plant seed corn that’s not GMO, or is modified with traits approved by all major corn importing countries including China, the suit notes.

Damages stem from Syngenta’s allegedly releasing Viptera into the country’s corn and seed corn supply, which has "destroyed export of U.S. corn to China and depressed prices for all corn" grown in the United States, the suit alleges.

Levitt said Sunday that 2014 has been a depressed year for corn, rice and soybeans "across the board.""However, I think if you look at what happened here with the Chinese and MIR162, corn prices would have been higher that they were," he noted. "So, we think that the MIR162 problem exacerbated or further reduced the corn prices."

Levitt said the lower price "seems to be 11 cents per bushel reduction as a result of the Chinese refusal to accept U.S. corn as a result of the MIR162 problem."

Syngenta is named in the complaint with giving misleading statements on the approval status of MIR162 in China and on the impact the lack of approval would have on the market. Also, the suit claims Syngenta’s widespread contamination of the U.S. corn and seed corn supply with MIR162 will close the nation’s export market to China in future years and lead to lower corn prices per bushel in the United States. Among other things, the complaint is asking the court to order Syngenta to remediate the alleged contamination the corporation is charged with having caused. The complaint also claims the company continues to release different varieties of MIR162 into the U.S. corn supply, and has misrepresented to the nation’s farmers that Chinese approval for MIR162 was imminent.

China bought an estimated 5 million tons of corn from the United States in 2012-13, up from 47,000 tons in 2008. The world’s third largest export market for U.S. corn, China was expected to meet or exceed the previous amounts in 2013-14. China, however, has not indicated when nor if it will approve Syngenta’s GMO corn, the complaint states.

"Syngenta … has caused lost sales and income to plaintiffs and other class members in excess of $1 billion," the complaint alleges. "Corn trade between the United States and China declined drastically in January 2014 after the trade disruption resulting from detection of MIR162. Since November 2013, Chinese imports for U.S. corn have decreased an estimated 85 percent. As a result domestically, corn prices have fallen considerably. These effects resulted from the fact that each export contract is at risk."

Corn production is of crucial economic importance to the United States, according to the complaint. It goes on to state the U.S. is ranked first in the world in total corn production and exports a significant amount of its crop.

10/22/2014