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Fri, 29 Sep 2006

US Rice Crops Contaminated by GE Rice Field Trials

Two non-gmo experts discuss the recent contamination of US rice crops from experimental field trials of an unapproved long grain GE rice, LL601, genetically engineered to tolerate the Liberty herbicide, glufosinate.

This is a disaster: According to Ken Roseboro, publisher of the monthly non-gmo industry newsletter The Non-GMO Report, "the US rice crop is worth an estimated $1.88 billion with about one-half of that sold to export markets. Long-grain rice accounts for about 80% of US rice exports." Contamination by the unapproved strain of GE rice has "depressed rice prices, damaged US rice export markets, spurred farmer lawsuits against the rice’s developer, Bayer CropScience, and raised new questions about the US’s ability to control GM crops."

Ken goes on to give background and details of the rice contamination disaster, and GE industry response: "Bayer CropScience’s 'solution' to the crisis is to seek retroactive USDA approval to sell LL601. The company has petitioned the USDA to 'de-regulate' the GM rice." Read Ken Roseboro's article, GMO Contaminates Rice - Starlink ll?

Approval of LL601 GE rice as a solution to the rice disaster is like throwing gasoline on a fire.

Jeffrey M. Smith is the author of Spilling the Beans, a monthly column on the dangers of GE foods, available at Institute For Responsible Technology. Jeffrey's October column compares the current crisis with recent history. In Hawaii, industry attempts to conduct field trials of GE coffee were defeated by the coffee growers, and their markets remain intact. In a single week in April 1999, all EU countries rejected GE foods, to the serious and continuing detriment of US agricultural markets.

The only difference between European and American consumers, when it comes to GE foods, is that in Europe, people know what GMO's are and want nothing to do with them. Here, most people know almost nothing about GMO's, don't know that they're eating them daily, and assume that if the FDA has approved them, they must be safe.

"Not true", says Jeffrey Smith. "Documents made public from a lawsuit revealed that FDA scientists had repeatedly warned their superiors that GM foods might create unpredictable, hard-to-detect allergies, toxins, new diseases and nutritional problems. They urged political appointees to require long-term safety studies. But the person in charge of FDA policy was the former attorney (and later vice president) of biotech giant Monsanto. And the agency was under orders from the White House to promote GM crops. The policy that was adopted in 1992, and still stands, is that no safety tests whatsoever are required by the FDA. Thus, varieties that had never been rigorously safety tested with animals, and probably never even fed to humans, were approved for sale."

Read Jeffrey's article, Rice Industry: Keep Genetically Engineered Varieties in the Lab

Shut Up and Eat Your Frankenrice! - from OCA's Organic Bytes newsletter, 9.16:

The rice industry has been in a state of upheaval, with rumors of a massive market recall spreading across the country. This week, the USDA announced its plan of action: instead of recalling this illegal, and potentially unsafe rice, it is working with Bayer to fast-track the approval process. "Illegal, potentially hazardous rice in grain bins, on supermarket shelves, in cereal, beer, baby foods, and all rice products. It should be a no-brainer. Recall this stuff to make sure no one eats it," said Joseph Mendelson, Legal Director of the Center for Food Safety. "Instead, USDA plans to rush through 'market approval' of a genetically engineered rice that Bayer itself decided was unfit for commerce. Why? To free Bayer from liability." Go to OCA to learn more

It's curious to me that European countries vigorously resist GE food, while here in the US, and in Canada too, most people aren't even aware they're eating it or even know what GMO's are, let alone any possible hazards. Are we really just a bunch of fat, complacent, ignorant guinea pigs, happy to be deceived and manipulated as long as we're comfortable in our cages?