Under the tab PUBLIC REVIEW, you claim JAPAN is a supporter of your GMO. Why did they put an immediate halt to wheat import when there was only a SLIM CHANCE of SOME GMO infestation?

Expert response from Kelly Clauss

Global Communications Strategy Lead, IT, Bayer Crop Science

Friday, 10/04/2015 10:49

Japan is a strong supporter of biotech crops. As with most countries, its regulatory system requires a rigorous review and assessment of all of the scientific studies on each biotech trait. If its assessment concludes the GM trait and crop are safe, Japan grants a regulatory approval that allows the crop to be imported and used as food or animal feed. (Check out this table — GMO Safety Reviews and Approvals from Around the World — which captures many of the products Japan has approved since 1995.)

However, if Japan’s regulatory agencies have not reviewed and approved a GM trait, it is illegal to import grain from the GM crop into the country. Japan has zero tolerance for unapproved GM traits in imports. In the situation you reference, the GM wheat had neither been reviewed nor received an approval in Japan, which would have made it illegal to import it into the country. For more information on this situation and its resolution, I encourage you to read my colleague’s response to the question “Has Monsanto determined why their experimental GMO wheat has appeared unwittingly in American crops, leading some Asian countries to cancel contracts for American wheat?”