May 1997  -  Monsanto is forced to recall 60,000 bags of canola seed when it discovers the seed contains unapproved gene-altered DNA, due to contamination from a planting error by a seed producer.

December 1997  -  Unapproved GMO sugar beet from a Monsanto test field is sent to a sugar refiner, where it contaminates natural sugar sold for animal feed.

May 2000  -  Nearly 15,000 acres of farmland in five European countries are contaminated with unapproved GMO canola when pollen from the unapproved variety blows into a non-GMO seed producers’ field.  In addition, French authorities reveal that unapproved GMO seeds have contaminated nearly 10,000 acres of corn planted there.

April 2001  -  Just months after the StarLink fiasco, Monsanto is forced to recall thousands of bags of canola seed contaminated with a GMO variety not approved for sale to Canada’s major export markets.  Incineration is planned for over 10,000 acres of fields already planted with the unapproved crop.

July 2001  -  Austrian authorities order thousands of acres of corn destroyed when tests show contamination of non-GMO seed by two unapporved GMO corn varieties.

Sept 2001  -  Scientists were surprised to discover GM crop material in wild maize in Oaxaca, Mexico despite the country’s moratorium on GM crop cultivation, in effect since 1998.  It is thought that GM maize seed in food aid shipments from the US was saved and planted.

April 2002  -  Corn grown in Argentina and sold as corn flour in Europe is discovered contaminated with a GMO variety that is not approved for planting in Argentina or for human consumption in Europe.

May 2003  -  Tests show that biotech crops have contaminated wheat grown in the US even though GMO wheat is not approved for marketing.  Grain industry experts warn that approving GMO wheat could mean the end of US esports to Europe and Asia.

July 2003  -  Over 100 farmers in Italy discover that the non-GMO corn seed they planted was contaminated with an unapporved GMO variety.

December 2003  -  UC Davis researchers discover that, for seven years, they had been mistakenly distributing for research purposes GMO tomato seed in place of a conventional variety.

(Source: Briefing on the Proposed Protocol for Pharmaceutical Rice, Attachment 2, submitted to the AB2622 Advisory board of the California Rice Commission, March 5 2004, prepared by Californians for GE-Free Agriculture.)