Community | August 08, 2009 | 8 comments

EU buyers stop US soy imports after GMO corn found

source: http://news.alibaba.com/article/detail/agriculture/100150870-1-update-2-eu-buyers-stop-us.html

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JanforGore
GMOs will also hurt our economy as well as our environment. I am wondering if this is done purposefully to push it on people in Europe without their knowledge.

Excerpt:

* EU buyers voluntarily stop imports of U.S. soy

* Shipments found with GMO varieties MON-88017, MIR-604

* Contaminated shipments were rejected, recalled

* Incidents reported in Spain, Germany

* Trade hopes Brussels will change rules (Recasts, updates with comments from EU spokesman in Washington; adds second byline, dateline, previously MADRID)

MADRID/WASHINGTON, Aug 6 - European Union buyers have voluntarily moved to stop imports of U.S. soy after shipments were found containing traces of genetically modified corn, a spokesman for the EU in Washington said on Thursday.

European trade sources said U.S. soybean meal shipments to Spain and Germany were found with traces of GMO corn, which is prohibited in the European Union.

"The industry has itself decided to stop all imports of U.S. soy, as of now," Mattias Sundholm told Reuters.

"The shipments have been rejected at the EU borders, and have been consigned and recalled when already on the market within the EU, unless they have already been consumed," Sundholm said.

Sundholm could not confirm the quantity or location of the shipments, but said they were found to contain the corn varieties MON-88017 and MIR-604.

Officials from the U.S. Agriculture Department and trade associations have not replied to requests for information.

The incident has raised concerns about bottlenecks in supply of a key feed ingredient for European livestock, which is already pricey.

"The main problem is that EU regulations don't allow marginal amounts, traces of GMOs not authorised by the EU," a spokesman for the Spanish Assocation of Cereal and Products Importers said.

"That puts us all in an uncertain, risky trade situation, and that is most serious for the entire European Community -- trade, livestock production and the economy."

Sources said 50,000 tonnes of contaminated U.S. soybean meal had been unloaded and detained at Tarragona, Spain's largest port. Port officials were not available to comment.

"It still needs to be dispatched and we await a meeting by the European Commission, probably in September, because nothing will happen in August," a port source said.

"The meeting will have to be urgent, because they have had similar problems in Germany."

The EU was the fourth-largest market last year for U.S. soymeal exports, totaling 475,900 tonnes. Shipments so far this marketing year, which began last October, are 374,300 tonnes.

A Spanish agriculture ministry official confirmed authorities had blocked a shipment of soybean meal, but could provide no further details.

One source said another cargo of soybean meal in the Spanish port of La Coruna awaited tests for genetically modified organisms, but port officials were unable to comment.

Spain's feed industry consumes some 5 million tonnes of protein-rich soybean meal a year, all of it imported, and mostly from the United States, Brazil or Argentina.

Soybean meal was quoted at 318-334 euros ($457.3-480.3) a tonne, ex-store, in Tarragona GRAES01>.

A trade source estimated Spanish ports had enough soymeal in stock to supply the animal feed industry for about a month, and said prices could be affected.

A port source said that Spain could not rely on supplies of soy from Argentina and Brazil alone.
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8 comments // EU buyers stop US soy imports after GMO corn found

  • artemis6
  • artemis6
    • 0
      artemis6  
    • artemis6:

      A corn kernel is in fact the seed . You had better do some research yourself , if you are really interested . I do not actually think you care , because if you had thought about it for a few seconds ... you would have realized that the kernel is the seed . I know kindergarten was a long time ago , but it must be in there somewhere . So after establishing you were not wanting to think about this , I suspect you simply want attention and wish to argue . Do not take my word , go and find out !

    • 2 years ago
  • artemis6
    • 0
      artemis6  

    • Gm crops are more expensive as well , because , more and more pesticide must be used ... Eventually , it will not work at all , and we will have greatly toxified the environment . All so a few can make a profit . Also the genetic structure of GM plants is NOT stable , making them potentially , a poison , that looks like food . Like we need more of that .

    • 2 years ago
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • Do GM Crops Increase Yields? The Answer Is No.

      Monsanto is therefore making faulty claims. None of its GM crop varieties increases yields. At best, they only reduce crop losses. If Monsanto does not know the difference between crop losses and crop yields, it needs to take some elementary lessons again in plant breeding.

      But please, Monsanto, don't try and fool the world by distorting scientific facts.

      For the record, let me also state that when Bt cotton was being introduced in India in 2001 (its entry was delayed by another year when I challenged the scientific claims made by Mahyco-Monsanto), the Indian Council for Agricultural Research had also objected to the company's claim of increasing yield. It is however another matter that ICAR's objections were simply brushed aside by the Department of Biotechnology, and we all know why.

      Interestingly, ISAAA and several consultancy firms (and how can we believe them anyway after their role in the economic collapse now facing the world) have been claiming that cotton yields in India increased after Bt cotton was introduced. Such claims are made about other crops too. I have seen this happening again and again over the past two decades; whenever the crop yields increase, the scientists and agribusinesses take the credit. But when the crop yields go down, the blame invariably shifts to weather conditions.

      Which may make you wonder why agricultural scientists and companies never thank the weather at times of bumper harvest. As a former Indian Agriculture Minister, Mr Chaturanand Mishra, always used to say, the only real Agriculture Minister is the monsoon.

      This year, cotton production estimates in India have been scaled down by 14 per cent. Using the same yardstick, does it not mean that the productivity of Bt cotton is also falling? But of course the blame cannot lie with Bt cotton. You guessed right – it must be the fault of inclement weather.

      end of excerpt.

    • 2 years ago
  • bubl_415
    • 0
      bubl_415  

    • Americans need to realize unless they buy organic food locally from farms they trust (I do) that their food or the feed used to nourish livestock, is very likely contaminated too. This is so wrong. If GMO's poise no threat then what's up with the sneakiness?

      What are they doing to the recalled soy? Redistributing it onto another market? Shady....

    • 2 years ago
  • artemis6
  • JanforGore
  • SeaJade
    • 0
      SeaJade  

    • Quoting from above: "The main problem is that EU regulations don't allow marginal amounts, traces of GMOs not authorised by the EU," a spokesman for the Spanish Assocation of Cereal and Products Importers said."

      How about the main problem being GMO's in the first place... good lord, no wonder we are in a lot of trouble....

    • 2 years ago
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