This GM Watch Special is brought to you to keep you abreast of the rapidly evolving illegal GM rice scandal.
In the UK the scandal was splashed across the front page of The Independent on Sunday today (17 September) with the headline - GM: THE COVER UP.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7033
BBC bulletins have also been covering the news that Friends of the Earth (FoE) has said it will start a legal challenge against the UK's Food Standards Agency (FSA) over the sale of GM rice in UK supermarkets. FoE has found evidence of illegal GM contamination in the rice on supermarket shelves. (Legal challenge plan over GM rice)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/5354294.stm
Peter Ainsworth, the UK's shadow Environment Secretary, has described the FSA's failure to take robust action as "a massive scandal" and has said it "smelt of a cover-up". In a leading article The Independent on Sunday concurs with that analysis. (Time to guard the shelves)
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7033
A former biotech specialist at the US government's Environmental Protection Agency, Dr Doug Gurian-Sherman, is quoted in the Sunday Herald as saying, "Risks should not be taken with public health for the convenience of companies or of government," and that on the basis of the incomplete evidence currently available, "I wouldn't eat it myself."
http://www.sundayherald.com/58013
The painful economic impact of the illegal GM rice crisis has also been getting attention courtesy of the Wall Street Journal, The Economist and papers in the US. http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7035
What is being described as "a catastrophe" for rice farmers is only the latest instance of major economic damage being inflicted by the GM industry.
Thanks to GM, American farmers have already suffered the loss of their corn export market to the EU, worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year. US soybean exports to the EU, historically America's most lucrative overseas market, have also now "dropped to almost economically insignificant levels". http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6994
The Wall Street Journal reports that the latest GM contamination scandal is not just hitting farmers. It's also proving a major headache for importers and the food industry: "Companies are struggling to find reliable suppliers and to avoid legal suits by testing their product lines," "food importers may face costly legal challenges".
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7035
And it's likely to get even worse. The contamination of US rice started with GM rice field trails that finished years ago. There are huge numbers of barely regulated GM trials that have been going on in America, including a large amount of GM crops that produce pharmaceuticals or industrial chemicals:
"This year, 181 acres in eight states were planted with crops that produce pharmaceuticals or industrial chemicals, according to Rachel Iadicicco, a spokeswoman for the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service." www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/business/15535999.htm
And in addition to all those acres this year, there are also all the trials that have happened in the past. How much US produce is contaminated already, but not yet detected? Crops are known to have been contaminated in the past.
(The Three Mile Island of Biotech?)
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20021230/nichols
We're fast reaching a point where all food out of the US is going to be regarded as a potential major liability. And China with its own illegal GM rice contamination scandal looks in danger of gaining an equally damaging reputation.
EXCERPTS: "The rice scare underlines problems facing food companies and biotech firms world-wide... techniques for stopping biotech crops crossing into the food chain by accident are imperfect. Companies are struggling to find reliable suppliers and to avoid legal suits by testing their product lines... Farmers, importers and biotech firms are beginning to feel the sting." - THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7035
"This is bad news for Arkansas... It is the state's main farm export, adding about $1.55 billion yearly to the economy and generating an estimated 20,000 jobs..." - THE ECONOMIST
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7035
"This is a catastrophe for Missouri rice farmers" - ST LOUIS ATTORNEY DON DOWNING
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7035
"Prices farmers can expect for their rice dropped more than $1 per 100 pounds after discovery of the modified rice in late August." - THE SOUTH EAST MISSOURIAN
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7035
"The Missouri and Arkansas farmers that I represent are very concerned that this fifteen percent loss in the price of rice will be permanent." - ST LOUIS ATTORNEY DON DOWNING
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7035
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MORE ON THE GM RICE SCANDAL
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+ USDA TO RUBBER-STAMP CONTAMINATION OF FOOD WITH ILLEGAL GM RICE
The US Dept of Agriculture (USDA) has initiated fast-track market approval of Bayer's illegal GM rice variety - LL601 - that has contaminated long-grain rice, throwing rice markets into turmoil and potentially causing harm to consumers and the environment. Bayer field-tested LL601 from 1998-2001, but for unknown reasons never applied to USDA for market approval.
"Illegal, potentially hazardous rice [is] 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 GM rice that Bayer itself decided was unfit for commerce. Why? To free Bayer from liability."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7006
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7018
+ TELL USDA *NOT* TO APPROVE ILLEGAL GM RICE
Take action: http://ga3.org/campaign/LLRice
+ LEGAL PETITION AGAINST USDA APPROVAL
The Center for Food Safety (CFS) has filed a legal petition with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that seeks to prevent the post hoc approval of an illegal genetically engineered rice recently found in the world's food supply.
"USDA's stamp of approval to genetically engineered rice after it has illegally contaminated the food supply would set a dangerous precedent, rewarding the biotech industry's negligence and thereby making similar contamination episodes more likely in the future," said Miyoko Sakashita, staff attorney at CFS. Links to legal petition and summary here:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7031
+ US SUPPLY CHAIN "SEVERELY DISRUPTED"
A statement by the major UK rice importer Tilda Rice says, "The US supply chain to Europe is now severely disrupted."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7008
+ GM RICE CONTAMINATION WIDESPREAD
The European Commission has confirmed that 33 out of 162 results of rice samples carried out by members of the European Federation of Rice Millers tested positive for the LL601 strain.
"Any consignments which tested positive have already been recalled or withheld from the market and the Federation's members have committed to continuing such withdrawals for any positive findings," the European Commission said. http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7014
+ FOOD INDUSTRY ALARMED
The existence of unapproved GM rice in Europe has shaken the food industry, the Financial Times has reported.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7018
+ SWISS RETAILERS BLOCK SALE OF US RICE
In Switzerland, which is not a member of the European Union, the country's largest retailer, Migros, has confirmed finding traces of the rice. Both Migros and their rival Coop have suspended sales of long-grain rice from the US. http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7025
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7020
+ TAINTED RICE IN GERMANY
Greenpeace tests revealed that the illegal rice has contaminated rice on the shelves of the supermarket Aldi in Germany. Aldi has pulled the rice in question from the shelves.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7012
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7018
+ ...AND IN FRANCE AND SWEDEN
France and Sweden have also discovered the illegal rice in imported US supplies. French tests revealed the banned GMO was in more than a third of samples tested (7 out of 19).
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7019
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7031
+ PHILIPPINES AT RISK
The Philippines is at serious risk from illegal GM rice contamination. "In Southeast Asia rice is the staple diet. The Philippines is among the countries most at risk because we import rice and rice products from both the US and China," said Greenpeace Southeast Asia's Daniel Ocampo.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7020
+ USDA DON'T HAVE A CLUE
USDA has said it is too soon to determine how much of an unapproved GM rice strain has entered the food supply. USDA chief spokeswoman Terri Teuber admitted, "In terms of where it might be and where it might not be, I don't think USDA is equipped in any way to assess or predict where that might be."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7019
+ BAYER SEEKS EU APPROVAL FOR SIMILAR GM RICE
Bayer has applied for permission to market in the EU a Liberty herbicide-resistant rice similar to the banned contaminant LL601 rice. See open letter to the 25 EU Member States: Reject Bayer's application to import GM rice into the EU:
http://www.cbgnetwork.com/300.html
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LEADING SCIENTISTS CONCERNED OVER GM RICE
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+ POTENTIAL ALLERGENICITY OF GM RICE SPARKS CONCERN
In a statement 3 leading international scientists have expressed their concern about the unapproved experimental GM rice found in Europe in products from China. The GM rice contains a toxin with significant potential allergenicity, according to Professor Ian F.Pryme, Professor Gilles-Eric Seralini, and Dr. Christian Velot.
The rice contains a gene for the Cry1Ac protein, or possibly for a fusion Cry1Ab/Cry1Ac protein with similar immunogenic properties to Cry1Ac3. Cry1Ac, the scientists point out, "has not been approved for human consumption in any food crop and there is concern over its potential allergenicity." Research into the gene for Cry1Ac has found that "the Cry1Ac protoxin is a potent immunogen."
"Studies following the steps recommended by the FAO/WHO expert consultation to evaluate allergenicity should be conducted by independent scientists, and their results published in peer-reviewed journals to allow evaluation of food safety. In addition, further studies into the potential allergenicity of Cry1Ac and other Bt proteins should be undertaken as a matter of the utmost urgency."
For full statement and references:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7023