US GM Rice Contamination Shocks The World.

August 23, 2006

US under pressure over modified rice http://www.ft.com/cms/s/86a0279c-3134-11db-b953-0000779e2340.html By Tobias Buck in Brussels and Doug Cameron in Chicago Published: August 21 2006 18:38 | Last updated: August 21 2006 23:19 The US Department of Agriculture on Monday faced mounting international calls for action after admitting on Friday that traces of an unauthorised variety of genetically modified rice had been found in commercial supplies. South Korean officials joined their counterparts from the European Union in seeking more information from the US Department of Agriculture on test results after Bayer CropScience, a unit of the German chemicals group, discovered the contaminated supplies on July 31. Mike Johanns, US agriculture secretary, has said no health risks are associated with the GM strain, but the fallout could hit US farmers amid calls for exports to be halted. The $1.5bn-a-year industry already faces intensifying competition from overseas producers, particularly in Asia. The US is one of the world’s largest rice exporters, with Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Japan among its markets. Japan banned imports of US long-grain rice at the weekend following the GM alert, though industry officials said the country’s imports were concentrated in other varieties. Campaigners in Europe urged the EU to follow Japan’s example. “This is a complete scandal. The biotech industry has failed once again to control its experiments and lax regulations in the US have allowed consumers worldwide to be put at risk,” said Adrian Bebb

at Friends of the Earth, the environmental group. Commercially grown US rice does not contain any GM components, but the discovery of contaminated samples left officials unable to provide South Korea with a guarantee that no contamination had reached export markets. "Our ideal is not the spirituality that withdraws from life but the conquest of life by the power of the spirit." - Aurobindo.

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