www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

EU nations voted Monday to test all U.S. long-grain rice imports to check
that they are not illegal genetically modified versions, October 2006.

All consignments of U.S. long-grain rice will be sampled and tested at EU
entry ports before they can be distributed and sold, the European Commission
said. The new rules will enter into effect within a few days.

The EU action stems from fears that a banned genetically modified long-grain
rice strain named Liberty Link Rice 601, which was accidentally imported
from the United States, could have found its way into the food supply.

The Commission said it has to start mandatory tests because the EU and the
U.S. had failed to agree on how to check for GM rice not legally allowed on
sale in Europe.

Talks broke down after the sides could not find a way of testing the rice to
"a high level of consistency and accuracy" within a 15-day negotiation
period, it said.

The costs of testing will be borne by exporters.

The tests will also check for another unauthorized GM rice, LL Rice 62,
recently found in French imports of U.S. rice.

While the EU's executive arm insists on a recall of the illegal imports, it
has said the presence of LL 601 poses no immediate health risk to humans or
animals based on a review of incomplete data provided by the U.S. government
and the maker of the rice variety.

Whether the rice is safe to eat or not, it is still cannot be sold in Europe
because it has not been evaluated and authorized in line with EU law, the
Commission said.

The EU said it was acting in response to finding LL Rice 601 in U.S.
shipments four weeks ago. It first stepped up controls on U.S. rice in
August after Dutch officials found an unauthorized genetically modified
variety in shipments that arrived in the port of Rotterdam in August.

Other shipments were also found in the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy. EU
officials also warned Britain that the rice may be have entered the country.

Wary of public health and environmental concerns, the EU allows only
genetically modified foodstuffs that have been evaluated and authorized to
be placed on the EU market.

The LL 601 strain was developed by Aventis CropScience, which was taken over
by Germany's Bayer AG in 2002 and renamed Bayer Crop Science. Bayer
announced in July it had found the 601 strain in storage units in Arkansas
and Missouri.


[www.iht.com]

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