Syngenta Countersues in Biotech Corn Debacle

With more than 180 lawsuits pending against Swiss business Syngenta, the company has filed its own suit, establishing itself as a plaintiff and shifting blame toward the companies who argue it was negligent when it allowed the biotech corn variety Viptera into supply chains before it was approved in China.

China detected the corn in 2013 and began rejecting shipments.

Grain companies and farmers have blamed Syngenta for hundreds of millions of dollars in losses that they say resulted from rejected shipments and declines in the market price for corn.

Syngenta has countersued, suggesting that the grain traders commingled the corn at their sites.

Syngenta argues it had no post-sale control over how third parties used its products and that the companies alleging negligence may be responsible for the biotech corn arriving in China.

Among defendants named in Syngenta’s suit are Cargill Inc. and Archer Daniels Midland Co., who in their own actions are plaintiffs against Syngenta.

The newly filed lawsuit alleges that it is the grain traders’ responsibility to protect farmers and other market participants against losses associated from shipments that could be rejected for containing unapproved biotech traits.

China began accepting Viptera corn in late 2014.  S