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

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been accused of failing to
protect the nation's food supply, following last week's withdrawal of a
long-grain rice seed after possible contamination with genetically modified
material, March 2007.

"This latest incident of contamination-the third in the last six
months-underscores the USDA's inability to keep unwanted and potentially
harmful modified genes out of our food supply," said Karen Perry Stillerman,
a food analyst at the non-profit group Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).

The USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) last week
issued 'emergency action notifications' to prevent the planting and
distribution of a rice seed from German firm BASF. The variety, Clearfield
CL 131, was not developed as a genetically engineered product, but the
firm's own testing revealed that the seed may have been contaminated with a
genetically modified strain. BASF last week notified the USDA of its
findings, which are now due to be verified by further tests conducted by
APHIS.

The US rice industry - and the USDA's regulatory standing - already suffered
a major hit last year, after Bayer Crop Sciences in July notified the agency
that it had discovered trace amounts of an unapproved GM rice in samples of
commercial rice seed.

The incident sparked a flow of reactions against the firm and the US rice
export market, with food safety warnings and regulatory restrictions
resonating globally.

These two incidents together indicate that the agency is lacking in its
protection of the US food supply, claimed UCS last week.

The organization, which says it combines independent scientific research and
citizen action for a safer consumer environment, also said the USDA was
taking consumer health risks by approving the first commercial production of
a food crop - again rice - engineered with human genes.

The new rice is genetically engineered to produce lactiva and lysomin - two
proteins found naturally in breast milk, and reported to have significant
potential against diarrhea. California-based Ventria Bioscience this month
received approval from the agency to cultivate over 3,000 acres of the rice
in Kansas.

But the news sparked new concerns and fears from the global anti-GM lobby,
and UCS added its voice to these. According to the group, pharmaceutical
crops such as Ventria's rice pose a threat to the food supply and public
health because the proteins they contain are intended to be biologically
active in humans and may be harmful if eaten accidentally.

"When such compounds are produced in food crops grown outdoors, they are
almost certain to contaminate the food supply," said UCS.
"Growing pharmaceutical food crops outdoors is not worth the risk it poses
to public health and the financial health of farmers and food companies.
Because it is virtually impossible to produce pharma food crops outdoors
safely, even if very strong regulatory systems were put in place, we are
calling for a USDA ban," said Stillerman.

According to Stillerman, a 2005 report by the USDA's internal auditor found
that the agency's oversight of pharma crops was lax.

"In some cases, regulators didn't know where pharma crops were grown or
stored. Several recent court decisions also have lambasted the agency's risk
assessment and regulatory systems for pharma and other genetically
engineered crops."

[www.foodnavigator-usa.com]