Farmer selling GE contaminated
rice.
13/04/2005 — In a startling development that
may have repercussions on exports of China's
biggest crop, Greenpeace has uncovered genetically
engineered (GE) rice, unapproved for human
consumption, that appears to have been planted
and sold illegally in China for the last two
years.
The Chinese government has not authorised
GE Rice for commercial planting, and has to
date permitted only field testing. Nevertheless,
it appears GE Rice is being sold, planted,
consumed, and possibly exported in China,
one of the largest exporters of Rice. Many
of the markets to which China sends its rice
demand GE-free grain, and the contamination
could negatively impact China's rice sales,
particularly in Japan, Korea, Russia, and
the European Union.
No country in the world has commercially released
GE rice. In the US, despite widespread plantings
of GE maize (corn) and soy, no commercial
GE rice crops have been planted for fear of
consumer and market rejection.
Whistle blowers: local farmers
Hani children in traditional costume in the
Yunnan Province
Local farmers tipped off our investigators
that GE rice was being sold without government
approval several months ago, when Greenpeace
conducted its Rice for Life tour there.
Subsequent investigations by our team found
samples of rice seed and unmilled and milled
rice containing GE strains. We collected evidence
from seed companies, agriculture extension
stations, farmers, rice millers, wholesalers
and retailers. We tested our results with
the international laboratory GeneScan, which
confirmed the presence of transgenic DNA in
19 samples.
Two of the samples tested positive as Bt
rice - a form which has been genetically engineered
to produce an inbuilt pesticide. For years,
large-scale field trials with Bt rice have
been conducted by scientists of the Huazhong
Agriculture University in Wuhan, the provincial
capital of Hubei.
Map of centres of biodiversity for rice in
China and contamination area in which illegal
GE strains were discovered.
The area borders dangerously close to what's
called the "centre for biodiversity"
of rice -- the place where the natural evolution
of wild and cultivated rice is at its most
active, producing the greatest number of varieties
and variations from generation to generation.
Any contamination of the wild rice species
there could alter natural rice evolution irrevocably
and with impacts that may not be understood
for generations to come.
Why is this dangerous?
GE insect resistant Bt rice has not been
approved for cultivation anywhere in the world.
There is no publicly available environmental
assessment nor human food safety assessment
available for any GE Bt rice. However, studies
from other GE Bt crops such as maize and cotton
give strong indications that Bt rice will
have serious environmental consequences and
there are serious human food safety concerns.
Locations in which GE Rice contamination
was documented.
Food safety risks:
- Rice is the most important staple food
crop in the world.
- On average, rice provides 30% of calorie
and 19% of protein intake in China.
- One of the toxins produced in Bt rice (and
which was found in two of the samples) could
cause allergenic reactions in humans. It has
already been demonstrated to do so in mice.
- The human food safety of Bt GE rice is unknown.
Environmental risks:
- Non-target species such as butterflies
and moths may be adversely affected;
- Weeds could pick up the pesticide production
capabilities via crossbreeding ;
- Insects resistant to the introduced toxin
may evolve and require more intensive chemical
control;
- Contamination of natural genetic resources;
- Bt rice could also affect long-term soil
health.
Rice is life
Rice found to contain GE strains by Greenpeace
investigators.
The illegal GE rice scandal comes at a time
when the Chinese government is evaluating
the environmental and health safety of various
GE rice lines for potential commercial approval.
The illegal release of GE rice into the food
chain prior to approval underscores the weakness
of the regulatory system.
Those weaknesses are not limited to China.
In March multinational GE conglomerate Syngenta
admitted that they mistakenly sold hundreds
of tonnes of illegal unapproved GE maize in
the United States over the past four years.
Regulators hadn't noticed. Another GE contamination
case in the USA in 2001 resulted in a $1 billion
product recall amid concerns of potential
allergenic reactions after illegal, GE corn
(Starlink) entered the human food chain. And
in Mexico in 2002, a centre of biodiversity
for maize, testing of 22 varieties revealed
genetic contamination in 15 of them, despite
a government ban on GE planting.
Greenpeace should not have to be monitoring
the GE industry's compliance with regulations,
and the GE industry is clearly incapable of
regulating itself. The Chinese government
shouldn't have to worry that GE approved for
testing is getting out into the environment
by accident, or that scientists who are told
not to release unapproved GE strains will
do what they are told. But the only way to
ensure this is to simply keep GE out of the
country.
We are calling for an urgent, international
product recall of all the GE Rice in China.
"The GE industry is out of control,"
says our campaigner Sze Pang Cheung. "A
small group of rogue scientists have taken
the world’s most important staple food crop
into their own hands and are subjecting the
Chinese public to a totally unacceptable experiment."
"We’re calling on the Chinese Government
to take urgent action to recall the unapproved
GE rice from the fields and from the food
chain, and to conduct an immediate inquiry
into the source of the contamination."
