Two local biotech
companies fined over
genetically modified corn

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By Tim Ruel
truel@starbulletin.com

Two Hawaii agricultural biotechnology companies have agreed to pay the first penalties ever for failure to comply with federal Environmental Protection Agency experimental use permits.

Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc., a subsidiary of DuPont, and Dow Chemical Co.'s Mycogen Seeds have settled cases with the EPA over alleged mishandling of genetically modified corn grown for seed in Hawaii. Pioneer's crops in question are grown at research stations on Kauai and Dow's are grown at a station on Molokai.

The EPA opened the cases after it inspected the companies' facilities in March. The agency found that Pioneer had planted experimental corn too close to other crops. The EPA also found that Dow did not have an appropriate border zone or windbreak to contain its experimental insect-resistant corn.

The fear is that genetically modified crops will cross-pollinate with nearby crops. Seed corn is a $32 million industry in the isles, and growing, according to the Hawaii Agricultural Statistics Service.

The two firms, each of which were facing up to $11,000 in total fines, received reduced penalties, in part because of their cooperation with the EPA, said agency spokeswoman Amy Miller. Dow will pay $8,800 while Pioneer will pay $9,900. In addition, Pioneer must test its crops to see if genetic material from the experimental corn was implanted into other corn crops.

The EPA looks at the gravity of violations and culpability when it imposes penalties, Miller said. She noted this is the first case of experimental use permit violations in the United States.

Both companies neither admit nor deny wrongdoing under the settlement.

The fines imposed on the companies are "puny" and may do little to deter violations, according to a statement from Gregory Jaffe, biotechnology project director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest. The violations in Hawaii and others are evidence that the industry cannot police itself, Jaffe said.

Letters to Dow and Pioneer about the violations were originally made public in August by the center, a nonprofit Washington advocacy group.

In a press release, Dow said it has initiated comprehensive steps to ensure it complies with permit requirements. The firm noted that the plot in question involved one-tenth of an acre of corn.

While Dow admitted it failed to provide a windbreak, the company said its experimental crops exceeded the distance requirements from other crops by six times. It described the violation as an oversight.

Pioneer said it did nothing wrong and that the allegations were based on a technical error.

There was a disagreement over whether Pioneer's nearby nurseries fit the definition of crops that had to be a certain distance from genetically modified corn, said Richard McCormack, plant manager for Waialua Parent Seed, which is part of Pioneer.