"Japanese importers have nearly stopped making new purchases of U.S. corn due to fears shipments might contain an unapproved variety of Bt corn. Some Japanese purchasers reportedly have shifted to non-U.S. origins for their corn, especially for the food market."

And even the pro-GM UK authorities are backing the EU ban.

1.Japan Wary of Making New Purchases of U.S. Corn
2.UK Backs Emergency Curbs on U.S. Animal Feeds
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1.Japan Wary of Making New Purchases of U.S. Corn
Illinois Farm Bureau, 04/15/05 09:20
http://ilfb.aghost.net/index.cfm?show=4&id=14047

OMAHA (DTN) -- Japanese importers have nearly stopped making new purchases of U.S. corn due to fears shipments might contain an unapproved variety of Bt corn. Some Japanese purchasers reportedly have shifted to non-U.S. origins for their corn, especially for the food market.

The matter concerns Swiss group Syngenta AG's announcement on March 22 that some of its corn seeds in the United States had been mistakenly contaminated with Bt10, an insect-resistant corn strain that has not been approved for distribution. Japan's rules on genetically modified products would require importers to destroy U.S. corn or ship it back to the United States if it was contaminated with the unapproved GM strain.

Japan imports 14 to 16 million metric tons of corn annually, with 90 percent of that sourced from the United States. U.S. trade officials have traveled to Japan because Bt10 is not authorized for export to Japan. U.S. government officials wanted to ensure that its biggest corn export market had the information it needed on this topic. [!]
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2.UK Backs Emergency Curbs on U.S. Animal Feeds
By Amanda Brown, PA Environment Correspondent
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4406049

The UK and European member states voted today to introduce emergency measures curbing the import of animal feeds from the United States.

The new law will restrict an illegal genetically modified maize planted by mistake in America, from entering the EU.

With no way of reliably testing for contamination, and no segregation of GM and non GM animal feed from the US, the measures are likely to result in a de facto ban on the import of US maize based animal feeds, according to Friends of the Earth.

The environmental group said Swiss based biotech company Syngenta admitted three weeks ago that it had sold unapproved GM seeds called Bt10 to US farmers for four years and that this illegal maize entered Europe.

Syngenta has since refused to make public the information needed for governments to test food and feed imports for the illegal GM maize.

Around one thousand tonnes of the maize were imported in to Europe but Friends of the Earth said that as no checks have been made by the UK Food Standards Agency, it is not known whether any contaminated maize entered the UK.

FoE is calling on the Food Standards Agency to demand that Syngenta urgently reveals the necessary information so that it can test for contamination in the UK food chain.

Friends of the Earth's GM Campaigner Clare Oxborrow said: "Europe now has a de facto ban on the import of many US animal feeds."

"Today's emergency measures will finally provide some protection for Europe from contaminated products.

"Syngenta must now come clean and give European countries the information needed to reliably test for illegal contamination and the UK Food Standards Agency must ensure checks are carried out."

"The public should never have been exposed to an untested and illegal genetically modified crop.

"This incident exposes an incompetent and complacent industry, an absence of regulation in the United States and a breakdown in Europe”šÄôs monitoring of food imports.

"Immediate action is needed at an international level to prevent further contamination in the future."