Second railroad to not haul Agrisure RW GMO corn

CHICAGO, May 2 (Reuters) - Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO) said on Wednesday it will not transport any corn or corn products containing the genetically modified Agrisure RW trait.

CP Rail is at least the second railroad to refuse to transport the GMO corn, which has full U.S. approval but has not been sanctioned by overseas customers who import U.S. corn. Numerous grain companies have also refused to accept the biotech grain for fear it could harm corn exports that were worth $4.8 billion last year.

"If mixing occurred between that product and other customer's products, we could then have customer reputation issues," said CP Rail spokesman Mark Seland.

CP Rail delivers grain to several export terminals on Canada's western coast.

U.S. railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp (BNI.N) said last week it would not handle Agrisure RW, which was introduced by Syngenta AG (SYNN.VX) this year to help U.S. farmers combat root worm, an insect that can cause crop losses.

Syngenta has started the process of gaining approval from overseas markets, including Japan, the top U.S. corn buyer. Exporters fear the approvals may not come before the crop is harvested this fall.

LINKS:

* INTERVIEW-Sygenta says no regrets [ID:nN02408600]

* US exporters protest GMO corn seed [ID:nN24179584]

* US railroad BNSF will not haul AgrisureRW[ID:nN30196726]