Greenpeace slams DA for ignoring warnings on US rice shipments

Manila — Greenpeace revealed last week that despite their
repeated warnings, two GMO-contaminated rice varieties have slipped into
the Philippines once again. Greenpeace commissioned tests have detected
the presence of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) in two imported US
long grain rice brands, Blue Ribbon Texas Long Grain and Riceland
Arkansas Long Grain that are being sold in S&R Supermarkets in the capital.

Texas and Arkansas US long grain varieties are among the rice supplies
identified by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in August 2006 to
have been massively tainted by the experimental GMO rice strain LL601
produced by Bayer. Blue Ribbon rice samples tested positive for LL601
contamination, but the exact GMO strain in Riceland is yet to be
determined. Both suspect US rice varieties were able to enter the
Philippines apparently undetected and unregulated by the Philippine
Department of Agriculture (DA).

“Last February, Greenpeace exposed how a 44,000 metric ton shipment of
US long grain rice is also a GMO risk. We challenged the DA, through
the National Food Authority (NFA), to conduct further and more stringent
tests on the rice to ensure its safety. The NFA should have had ample
time to run stringent tests on the rice before it was distributed.
Unfortunately, their neglect has foisted rice, whose safety is still
questionable, on an unsuspecting population,” said Greenpeace Southeast
Asia Genetic Engineering Campaigner Daniel Ocampo.

“This is the second time Greenpeace has discovered illegal GMO rice in
the country. And, as usual, the DA was unable to detect its entry into
our rice supply. Clearly, the government is completely useless in
enforcing its own GMO regulations, instituted to protect the welfare of
consumers and the environment. Moreover, the lax attitude toward these
unsafe, experimental crops betrays the DA’s pro-GMO bias, which, unless
rectified, would ultimately endanger Filipino consumers and farmers,” he
added.

The NFA started distributing the US long grain rice last Saturday at Php
25.00 per kilogram. Greenpeace believes that the stock may be among
those affected by the massive US GMO long grain rice contamination
scandals since 2006. The contamination has so far cost the US rice
industry billions of dollars in losses.(1)

“Greenpeace is unrelenting in our demand that the country’s rice supply
be protected from unsafe and unproven GMO technologies. The ongoing
rice crisis should not be used as an excuse to neglect our existing
regulations governing GMOs, especially since there are other sources of
GMO-free rice. GMOs threaten biodiversity, food security, farmers’
livelihoods, and consumer health,” said Ocampo. “The DA should come
clean and plainly state that their commitment to protect the integrity
of our rice supply is also a commitment to keep rice GMO-free.”

Greenpeace campaigns for GMO-free crop and food production grounded on
the principles of sustainability, protection of biodiversity, and
providing all people access to safe and nutritious food.
Genetic-engineering is an unnecessary and unwanted technology that
contaminates the environment, threatens biodiversity, and poses
unacceptable risks to health.

For more information:
Daniel Ocampo, GE campaigner, +63 917 897 6416, daniel.ocampo@greenpeace.org
Lea Guerrero, Media Campaigner, +63 2 434 7034 loc 121, +63 920 950
6877, lea.guerrero@greenpeace.org

Note:
(1)The GMO Bayer LL601, responsible for the contamination, was an
experimental variety whose research was abandoned in 2001 and which was
never commercialized for undisclosed reasons. Since 2006, this
experimental variety was found in at least 30 countries, many of which,
including the EU, Russia, Japan, and the Philippines have responded with
import restrictions. The said GMO rice strain has never been completely
eradicated from US rice supplies, and remains to this day. In fact,
from 2006 to 2008, 23 shipments of US rice to Europe, certified GMO-free
by US labs, were rejected by the importing countries after European
tests confirmed GMO content.

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