Syngenta loses US$218m verdict in first GMO trial test

Washington

SYNGENTA was ordered to pay US$217.7 million to a group of Kansas farmers who claimed the company carelessly marketed its genetically modified corn seed, causing contamination of US crops and a rejection of export sales to China by officials there.

A Kansas jury issued the verdict on Friday in the first trial brought by US farmers alleging Syngenta caused five years of depressed corn prices. Several other trials are pending as lawyers pursue suits on behalf of some 350,000 corn growers claiming as much as US$13 billion in losses.