Touchdown Registered In New York

New Touchdown^® with IQ Technology™ Registered In New York

(Greensboro, NC, August 13, 2001) Syngenta has received registration from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for an all-new and improved Touchdown^® non-selective herbicide. New Touchdown can be applied in more than 230 crops - including over-the-top application in Roundup Ready^® (RR™) corn and RR soybeans.

New Touchdown with IQ Technology™ is labeled for burndown weed control applications in apples, grapes and various other fruit, nut and vegetable crops; corn; soybeans; wheat; pastures, forage grasses and legumes; conservation and fallow land. The product received U.S. EPA registration on November 28, 2000.

“Touchdown with IQ Technology has a patented formulation that is combined with a new corn-based adjuvant to enhance glyphosate uptake and movement within treated weeds,” said Bill Beutke, Touchdown brand manager at Syngenta.

New Touchdown can be used over-the-top in RR corn and RR soybeans. Its predecessor, Touchdown 5, has been widely used in RR soybeans but was never registered for RR corn. Touchdown applications over the top of RR corn and RR soybeans are authorized by Monsanto, and the product is listed in that company’s Technology Use Guide.

New Glyphosate AI, Adjuvant Delivery System

The more efficient glyphosate molecule in new Touchdown is diammonium glyphosate (DA). Touchdown 5 contains glyphosate trimesium (TMS or sulfosate), while Roundup^® and generic glyphosates contain glyphosate isopropylamine (IPA).

“This new diammonium salt of glyphosate is at the heart of our patented formulation,” Beutke added. “Our team of glyphosate researchers designed an ideal balanced adjuvant delivery system for this active ingredient - creating a product that gives consistent, down-to-the-roots control of over 170 different weeds.”

Corn-based polymers are the foundation of the new IQ Technology adjuvant delivery system. IQ Technology stands for “Ion Quality... In Quick... In Quantity.” Diammonium glyphosate coupled with this delivery system overcomes four potential barriers to consistent glyphosate weed control, according to Beutke.

First, it wets the leaf surface and helps retain spray droplets on the leaf.

Second, it maximizes the active ingredient available for absorption by the weed. Calcium or magnesium ions, which are often found in spray water or dust on the leaf surface, can “tie up” the glyphosate molecules and prevent them from entering the plant. IQ Technology neutralizes these ions, enabling more glyphosate to enter the weed leaf.

Third, it promotes increased penetration into the leaf without damaging epidermal cells - allowing these cells to actively transport the glyphosate herbicide throughout the weed.

“This gentleness to epidermal leaf cells is also the key to the new product’s wide margin of crop safety over RR corn and RR soybeans,” Beutke says. “In hundreds of trials, we’ve seen no real crop injury and rarely any visible effects on the crop at all.”

Fourth, IQ Technology enhances translocation through vascular tissue to the weed’s shoots, roots, rhizomes and stolons.

No other adjuvants are needed with the new Touchdown. Where ammonium sulfate (AMS) is used, AMS rates can be reduced by up to 25 percent with Touchdown compared to regular glyphosate herbicides.

New Touchdown is also clean-smelling and lower-foaming during handling and mixing.

New Touchdown is available in bulk, 110-gallon, 30-gallon and 2.5-gallon containers. Pricing is comparable to Roundup UltraMax™.

Syngenta is a world leading agribusiness. The company ranks first in crop protection, and third in the high-value commercial seeds market. Pro forma sales in 2000 were approximately US $6.9 billion. Syngenta employs more than 20,000 people in over 50 countries. The company is committed to sustainable agriculture through innovative Research and Technology. Formed in November 2000 by the merger of Novartis Agribusiness and Zeneca Agrochemicals, Syngenta is listed on the Swiss stock exchange, and in London, New York and Stockholm. Further information is available at www.syngentacropprotection-us.com.