Large Quantities Of Illegal Untested GM Rice Contaminating Food

[Jcrowley]

14-09-2006
Up to one fifth of rice entering the EU is contaminated with an illegal genetically modified (GM) strain from the US. Those are the findings of the European Commission's own investigation into EU rice imports, following the admission in August by the US government that untested strains of GM rice had entered the food chain.

If that wasn't alarming enough, our own research has shown this rice has made its way into products available in German supermarkets. Coming just one week after we revealed how Chinese products containing another illegal and untested GM rice variety were available on supermarket shelves in the UK and Europe, these results illustrate the inability of the GM industry to control its own technologies.

Out of 162 shipments of US long grain rice examined by the Commission, 33 tested positive for a strain of rice produced by agribusiness giant Bayer. The rice, LL601 as it's officially known, has been engineered to be resistant to Bayer's own herbicides but it has not been approved for human consumption anywhere in the world. Currently, no varieties of GM rice have been approved for growing or consumption in the EU, although Bayer are trying to clear some of their other rice strains that have been approved in the US and Canada.
Illegal and untested

The rice was grown in the US in 2001 but only as a test crop and the effects on human health are unknown. Worrying, then, that it is now present on the shelves of Aldi Nord, a major German supermarket. Aldi Nord has since removed the affected products from its shelves but with Germany importing about 25 per cent of its rice from the US, the contamination could have spread much further.

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/contentlookup.cfm?&ucidparam=20060914174117

[Kagemusha]

1. You wouldn't think it but, there's no proof this is gonna kill people

It's not like say, an e.coli bacterial outbreak.

[Jcrowley]

3. True

No Tests No Proof. Good that way if you own the FDA. Welcome to Monsanto's world of the revolving door.

[Kagemusha]

4. Oh I'm a huge believer in testing stuff.

I was really turned off to find out how little testing the Taser stun guns got before getting to market. That's not right at all. And when a problem's found, it should be corrected, not left to fester for years. Like oh, asbestos, as another good example.

[Selatius]

9. God forbid people like you win power in government

I mean, we here in America, the heart of capitalism, wouldn't want reason and safety to stand in the way of profit, would we?

:sarcasm:

[Kagemusha]

11. Hey, some people like to forget but, profit's a big picture thing.

Penny wise and pound foolish is how you lose money, not how you make it.

[The Traveler]

5. I don't know much about the topic

but I think the problem emerges from the ability of GM crops to squeeze out naturally evolved plants. When coupled with intellectual property laws and patents and such, this gives corporations way too much potential control over local food supplies.

Like I said, I am not expert on the topic.

[Kagemusha]

7. Well that's not why newspapers are in a complete panic over this.

However, quite separately, your point IS a good one, and this is a cause for legitimate concern.

[midnight]

2. Another reason for me to eat more organically grown food.

I can't believe that this GM rice found it's way into the European market. Man those people are going to pissed that their Govt. screwed them over.

[soothsayer]

6. Death to Monsatan! and all their ilk!

Those crappy GM crops spread to and contaminate other fields and then monsantan sues the farmers for not paying for their horrid frankenseeds

[OneBlueSky]

8. unless Congress and the president do something to regulate . . .

GM foods, there will come a time when virtually ALL food crops are contaminated . . . and there will be no way to reverse it . . .

maintaining the (relative) purity of our food supplies is one of the most critical issues of our time . . . and we damn well better elect people who will DO something about it . . .

[Jcrowley]

10. Once our food

is cotrolled, and much of it is, the ballgame is pretty much over. Must keep fighting these Food Giants.