Dow Agrosciences yesterday [Thursday] insisted that federal regulators had found no evidence that its GM corn had contaminated neighbouring crops in Hawaii.
The company was responding to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision to fine it for mishandling experimental GM corn, reported Reuters.
Dow Agrosciences is a subsidiary of Dow Chemical. Together with DuPont subsidiary Pioneer Hi-Bred International, it was the first company to be accused by the EPA of mishandling trial genetically engineered corn. Last December the two companies agreed to pay a fine of less than US$10,000 in an out-of-court settlement.
Dow was accused of failing to create a sufficient buffer zone from non-GM crops by planting trees, and of failing to isolate its corn, which is engineered to be insect-resistant. The company claims, however, that none of its corn actually contaminated other crops.
The settlement did not require Dow or Pioneer to admit any wrongdoing.
