Incident details
| Region/Continent and country: |
| Asia / Japan |
| Category of incident: |
Contamination
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| What was contaminated: |
| Feed |
| GM organism involved: |
| Maize |
| Year incident occurred: |
| 2005 |
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| Route of contamination |
| Poor quality control in laboratory |
|
| Downloads |
GM Contamination Register Report 2005
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Japan – Bt10 maize detected in imports
Since the first reported import of GM Bt10 contaminated maize into Japan on 1st June 2005, a total of ten shipments of contaminated maize shipments have been detected. A total of 32,610 tonnes of contaminated maize is in quarantine and due to be returned to the USA.
On 22nd March 2005, the journal Nature revealed that Syngenta had inadvertently produced and distributed a variety of GM maize, Bt10, which did not have regulatory approval. Between 2001 and 2004, several hundred tonnes of the Bt10 maize had been distributed and grown in the USA instead of a maize line known as Bt11. The breach was reported by the company to the US authorities in December 2004, but was not made public until 3 months later. The mix up arose because Syngenta’s quality control procedures were not sufficiently rigorous and did not differentiate between Bt10 and Bt11. As a result, Bt10 lines were mistakenly used in breeding. The error was detected after four years, when one of the seed companies developing Bt11 varieties, Garst seeds, used more sophisticated techniques.
The Bt10 maize is one of Syngenta’s experimental lines of insect resistant maize incorporating a toxin gene from the bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis, and was not intended to be commercialised. Originally, in making reassurances about safety, the company emphasised the similarity between the insecticidal Cry1a toxins produced by Bt10 and another GM maize variety Bt11, which has approval in the USA. However, later it emerged that Bt10 also contains a gene that gives resistance to the antibiotic ampicillin. Syngenta will not disclose the full details of how Bt10 has been genetically modified, but have said that it also contains the pat gene, which gives tolerance to the herbicide glufosinate (Liberty).
A US Department of Agriculture investigation led to a $375,000 fine and Syngenta's was required to hold a compliance seminar. Under the terms of Syngenta's agreement with the USDA, the conference was to have the following goals:
“1.) develop a best management practices or technical guideline for insuring no contamination or cross contamination of biotech genes in the seed development and breeding program; and
2.) develop a best management practices or technical guideline to identify, promptly address, and implement corrective measures to resolve unintended biotech releases”.
The conference was held on December 6, 2005 at the annual American Seed Trade Association meeting held in Chicago. For a copy of a DVD of the proceedings and the power point presentations contact:
Lisa Zannoni
Head, Global Biotechnology Regulatory Affairs
Syngenta
e-mail: lisa.zannoni@syngenta.com
The GM Contamination Register Report for 2005 has a special section on the Bt10 incident containing further details and references. It accessible via the downloads section in the left hand panel of this page.
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Further information
Macilwain, C. (2005) US launches probe into sales of unapproved transgenic corn Nature 434: 423 >
Japan finds US biotech corn, now to test all imports. Reuters, 2 June 2005 >
US Grains Council Global Update 8 July 2005 >
Second Bt10 contamination incident in Japan. GM Free Cymru Press Release, 7 June 2005 >
Third Japanese shipment tests positive for Bt10. Farms.com, 27 June 2005 >
Japan finds more Bt10 corn. Dow Jones News Wires, 12 July 2005 >
Japan to still buy US corn despite Bt10 worries. Dow Jones News Wires, 14 July 2005 >
Japão encontra sétimo carregamento com milho Bt-10. Agrolink, 4 August 2005 >
Japan finds 10th cargo contaminated with Bt10. GM Watch, August 30, 2005 >
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