EU bans import of Bt10 Corn

18/04/05 Food Authorities in NZ and Australia have been urged to take action over illegal imports of unauthorised Bt 10 corn after the EU banned imports of products likely to contain it.

The untested and unapproved Bt 10 corn has been sold by mistake for the last four years by Syngenta. The US government has fined the company and the EU has now banned imports of the product, but food authorities in New Zealand have been dismissive of the problem and have refused to answer serious questions about the incident.

Lobby group GE Free NZ in food and environment says that the official response in New Zealand is wholly inadequate and shows an astonishing disregard for encouraging compliance with rules aimed at protecting public health. The group is calling on New Zealand authorities to urgently overhaul the current system and to impose a fine on the offending company as the US government has just done.