Swedish-based company, Syngenta Seeds, Inc, produced and sold a specially modified corn seed known as Agrisure Viptera in 2011. This particular corn seed was designed to contain a protein that prevents pests from damaging the corn. Although the corn seeds had been approved for sale in the United States, it had not been approved by other foreign countries, including China. Syngenta began selling the seeds anyway, and hundreds of U.S. farmers bought the corn seeds, causing the expectation for 3 percent of current crops to contain the engineered corn.
At the end of 2013, China found the Viptera corn in a shipment from the U.S. and denied it. This highly impacted our corn exports, as American crops do not have a system to separate genetically modified corn from unmodified crops. China began rejecting the majority of U.S. corn, causing the corn market to decline. This pushed China to ban American corn, turning away 1.45 million tons of the crop. This ban has caused corn exports to drop 85 percent this year, resulting in several billion dollars lost in income within the corn industry. This has made dramatic effects on the market in 2013 and 2014.
Many blame Syngenta for the damage to the corn market and have begun filing lawsuits for economic suffering of the farmers. This is because of the company’s premature selling of the GMO seeds, and neglecting the impact it could make on the global market. Dozens of suits have been filed all over the country in attempt to show the company’s responsibility for hurting farmers all across America.
If you or someone you know have suffered financially in the corn industry, you may be able to take legal action against Syngenta for financial compensation. The Carlson Law Firm is accepting these cases and are there to help you and your families get justice for the financial suffering caused by the company’s negligence. Possible effected positions in the corn industry are independent farmers, large farmers, grain elevators, distributors, exporters and transporters.