The Financial Times reports that numerous governments and environmental groups are calling for a ban on US rice imports following the revelation over the weekend that commercial supplies of long-grain rice had become inadvertently contaminated with a genetically engineered variety not approved for human consumption.
"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.
According to both the manufacturer and the US government, the rice is said to pose no threat to human health or the environment. Still, that does not seem to assuage officials outside the US, where suspicions about genetically modified foods are far deeper than they are in the US.
“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,” FT writes.
"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.
According to both the manufacturer and the US government, the rice is said to pose no threat to human health or the environment. Still, that does not seem to assuage officials outside the US, where suspicions about genetically modified foods are far deeper than they are in the US.
“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,” FT writes.
- KC's View:
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Here’s what we ought to do. Have USDA Secretary Mike Johanns over for dinner, and serve him beef and rice. But, we won’t tell him where the beef and rice came from.
Let’s see how much he eats.
