Rice unapproved for humans remain on shelves

Rice unapproved for humans remain on shelves



Feb 2007 - A High Court Judge has 
ruled that the UK Food Standards Agency did not act unlawfully 
by allowing genetically modified rice unapproved for human 
consumption to remain on the shelves of major grocery chains 
across Great Britain. 
In a judicial review requested by Friends of the Earth, the 
judge did fault the agency for a number of mistakes, including 
its decision not to issue a food alert and the late provision 
of advice to local authorities. 
In his ruling Thursday, the judge also said that public 
authorities such as the Food Standards Agency should be 
allowed to make mistakes without attracting legal sanction. 
Long grain white rice grown in the United States has been 
mixed with low levels of biotech rice. How that occurred is 
still unclear. 
The environmental group claimed the agency acted illegally by 
allowing long grain rice mixed with Bayer CropScience's 
LLRICE601, also known as Liberty Link® rice, to be sold 
instead of ordering stores to remove it. 
The biotech rice, altered to tolerate the Bayer Liberty® 
herbicide glufosinate, was found in Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, 
Sainsbury's and Somerfield. 
Friends of the Earth GM Campaigner Clare Oxborrow said, "These 
mistakes meant that local authorities, the public and 
retailers were not given information about which rice products 
were found to be contaminated with illegal GM ingredients." 
Friends of the Earth GM Campaigner Clare Oxborrow 
On August 18 last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture 
announced that the illegal GM rice strain, grown 
experimentally in the United States but unapproved for human 
consumption, had been found in long grain rice supplies 
destined for export. It was sent to several countries, 
including the United Kingdom. 
At the High Court hearing, Friends of the Earth presented 
evidence that the biotech rice was on sale in the UK more than 
two months after the Food Standards Agency claimed it had been 
withdrawn from the market. 
On September 1, 2006 the Food Standards Agency Director of 
Food Safety Dr. Andrew Wadge said, "The presence of this GM 
material in rice on sale in the UK is illegal under European 
food law, even at extremely low levels. This is why we are 
taking steps to test American long grain rice and ensure 
future imports are GM free." 
But on the same day Dr. Wadge also said, "Our independent 
scientific experts have looked at the data on this material 
and have concluded that there is no food safety risk. 
Therefore the agency is advising people who have long grain 
rice from the U.S. at home that they can continue to eat it." 
He placed the blame on grocers, saying, "Food retailers are 
responsible for ensuring that the food they sell does not 
contain unauthorized GM material." 
The Food Standards Agency usually issues a food alert when 
food companies withdraw products to alert consumers and local 
authorities when there are problems with food, but none were 
issued in this case because the grocers did not withdraw the 
products. 
Five days after the contamination was revealed, the European 
Commission put in place emergency legal measures to deal with 
the incident. All long grain rice imported from the United 
States had to have a certificate stating that it was free of 
LLRICE601 before it could be marketed in Europe. 
EU member states also were required to take action in relation 
to products already on the market, such as rice imported into 
the EU before the contamination came to light, in order to 
"verify the absence of genetically modified rice LL RICE 601." 

It is this second point where Friends of the Earth believes 
the Food Standards Agency failed to act, and this formed the 
central issue for the judicial review. 
Chair of the UK Food Standards Agency Dame Deirdre Hutton is 
also vice chair of the European Food Safety Authority. 
In deciding not to order stores to withdraw the biotech rice, 
the UK agency relied on the judgement of the European Food 
Safety Authority that, "the consumption of imported long grain 
rice containing trace levels of LLRICE601 is not likely to 
pose an imminent safety concern to humans or animals." 
After the High Court ruling, the agency promised to carry out 
an internal review of how it handled the LLRICE601 rice 
situation and to take the criticisms of the judge to heart. 
Oxborrow said the agency "must make sure that this review is 
open and honest and that the mistakes made are not repeated in 
the future." 
Following an incident in Rotterdam, where a shipment of long 
grain rice tested positive for LLRICE601 by Dutch authorities 
after holding a certificate saying it was GM-free, the 
European Commission tightened the legislation to require 
counter testing of all U.S. long grain rice by EU member 
states at the port of entry. The discrepancy occurred because 
a more sensitive test is used in Europe than in the United 
States. 
This counter testing emergency measure is still in place. 
Neither the U.S. Department of Agriculture, USDA, nor Bayer 
CropScience, can explain how this unapproved biotech rice got 
into the food chain and an investigation by U.S. authorities 
is ongoing. 
Trace amounts of LLRICE601 were first discovered by the 
Agricultural Center of Louisiana State University, which 
conducted some field research on the variety. 
Rice altered for resistance to Liberty herbicide in a test 
plot at Louisiana State University. All rows were sprayed with 
Liberty herbicide. The green rows are LLRICE601; the dead row 
is nontransgenic rice. 
In the United States, several multi-million dollar class 
action lawsuits and several individual lawsuits have been 
filed against Bayer by U.S. farmers who have suffered severe 
financial losses. 
Bayer applied for the LLRICE601 genetically modified rice to 
be legalized, or deregulated, in the United States. Although 
the USDA approved the deregulation on November 24, 2006, the 
rice is still illegal in Europe. 
On November 24, 2006, Bayer CropScience said in a statement, 
"The deregulation confirms the preliminary decision of USDA, 
published on September 8, 2006, that LLRICE601 does not pose 
any environmental concerns and should no longer be regulated." 

Friends of the Earth said the company applied for deregulation 
"in an attempt to limit liability." 
Bayer CropScience said the company submitted LLRICE601 for 
deregulation "as part of the company’s ongoing cooperation 
with USDA after traces of the herbicide-tolerant rice were 
found at very low levels in samples of commercial long-grain 
rice. The company does not intend to commercialize LLRICE601."

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