To Subscribe to the Organic and Non-GMO Report call
1-800-854-0586 or visit http://www.non-gmoreport.com/

In February, the US Department of Agriculture announced another contamination incident involving an unapproved genetically modified corn. Known as ‘Event 32,’ the unapproved GM corn had found its way into three commercial corn seed lines that were planted on a total of 72,000 acres over the past two years. The announcement states that Dow AgroSciences notified the USDA and was instructed to recall the seed lines found to contain the unapproved crop.

Event 32 is a GM corn variety that contains a built-in insecticide. It was detected by Dow Agrosciences in its Herculex RW and Herculex XTRA corn lines. While USDA, FDA and EPA issued a press release to quell consumer concerns, Event 32 has not undergone established regulatory review procedures to check for potential adverse environmental or human health impacts.

“These contamination episodes pose potential risks to consumers and hurt farmers through lower prices and lost markets, especially overseas. It’s long past time we passed laws that make biotech companies financially liable for their sloppy and reckless behavior,” said Joe Mendelson, legal director of the Center for Food Safety.

The incident was the third involving an unapproved GM corn variety in the past seven years. In 2000, another insecticide- producing GM corn known as Starlink was mistakenly introduced into the nation’s food supply, leading to the nation’s largest-ever food recall due to concerns that it could cause allergies in those who consumed contaminated corn products. In 2005, it was revealed that biotech company Syngenta had unknowingly sold unapproved Bt10 corn seed from 2001 to 2004.