June '08 | Bt 63 rice and other contamination still ongoing
A BIT OF A PROBLEM
Just when the global rice industry thought it was safe to breath again, as the threat from illegal GM rice contamination seems to be receding (see MINEFIELD OF RICE – News,March 2008), guess what's happened again?
Yes, another experimental rice grown in another research station has gone rampaging across the world.
The rice is one we've seen before, Bt63 from China. It has been modified to express an insecticide, but there's doubt about what form of Bt gene it actually contains. Whatever the gene, the variant of Bt toxin it produces has been linked to allergic-like reactions in mice and farm-workers.
The problem seems to have originated in experimental field trials of Bt63 rice carried out by Huazhong Agricultural University. In 2006, Greenpeace discovered GM-contaminated rice in three very different venues in China (a store, a rice wholesaler and a seeds market). It emerged that Chinese research institutes and seed companies had been illegally selling unapproved GM rice seeds to farmers.
The following year, Bt63 was found in Heinz baby food, and later in specialty rice products, such as noodles, in the UK, Germany and France. The Chinese Government reportedly took action to punish the seed companies, and destroyed the illegally-grown GM rice crops.
However, in autumn 2007, new Bt63 rice contamination incidents were reported in the EU.Even the European Food Safety Authority had to admit defeat, declaring that a food safety risk assessment simply couldn't be carried out because there were insufficient data on which to base it. Accordingly, on the 12th February, 2008, the Authority agreed to implement an Emergency Decision which came into force on 15th April requiring member states to enforce controls. In the UK, these controls involve our ports of entry and the Food Standards Agency (FSA). The FSA issued an alert to food manufacturers and trading standards departments on the 9th April 2008, saying the contaminated rice products must be withdrawn from sale immediately.
Other recent GM-contamination news from Europe comes from Swedish scientists who have been examining a GM trial site planted with experimental oilseed rape a decade ago. They reported finding 15 GM plants (about 40% of those tested) alive and well there. Overall, there was one GM plant for every 100 square meters (that's about the foot-print of the average modern house; a single oilseed rape plant can produce a lot of pollen and a lot of seed). This has happened despite intensive treatment of the field with toxic chemicals, and the removal of emerging volunteer plants after two years. The scientists also found plants derived from the non-GM oilseed rape planted on the site at the same time. One of the scientists remarked “ ... oilseed rape is a tough plant ... It's been known for some time that oilseed rape is a bit of a problem because of the survival of its seed.”
On Australian plant ecologist was more blunt: “We should assume GM organisms cannot be confined, and ask instead what will become of them when they escape.”
The Swedish scientists shouldn't have been surprised at what they found. Research in the UK back in 2005 estimated that contamination by GM oilseed rape was likely to persist for 15 years, and it has previously been suggested it may not ever be feasible to grow GM and non-GM oilseed rape in the same field.
In Scotland, this has grave implications for the farms at Munlochy and in Fife that hosted the Farm Scale Evaluations of GM oilseed rape in the late 1990s. Clearly, there is no possibility of co-existence of GM and non-GM oilseed rape.
Rice and oilseed rape are not the only GM contamination headaches in Europe. An organic maize farmer in France is taking legal action after a routine analysis identified genes from transgenic maize contaminating his crop. The closest plot of GM maize was 37 kilometres from his organic field.
No insurance company is willing to insure against the risk of contamination by GMOs.
OUR COMMENT
China definitely hasn't got its GM act together. But here in the EU with its plethora of regulatory hoops and hurdles 'controlling' GM crops at every stage, we're not doing much better. Judging by the length of time it's taken our regulators to announce the Bt63 rice 'emergency', we should count ourselves lucky they don't run the fire services.
If you want to find out more about the Bt63 rice issue, check out the GMFreeze/Friends of the Earth Briefing paper. YOu can download it from the publications page on the GM Freeze website. http://www.gmfreeze.org/page.asp?id=256&iType=1084
To prevent similar contamination in the UK in future and protect our businesses, GMFreeze and Friends of the Earth have pointed out the need for Europe to start an on-going programme of pro-active monitoring of incoming crops before they are unloaded. As far as Bt63 rice is concerned, it's up to local authorities to carry out the testing, so ask your local trading standards department what testing they are planning to carry out in your area (you can find them using your post-code at www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/).
SOURCES
- Richard Black, GM seeds can 'last for 10 years', BBC News, 2.04.08
- Roger Highfield, GM takes a decade to clear, Telegraph, 2.04.08
- Geoffrey Lean, GM crop 'ruins fields for 15 years', Independent 9.10.05
- Illegal GM Rice “Unsafe” Say FSA, GMFreeze Press Release, 27.03.08
- GM Rice “Unsafe” Says Food Standards Agency, Friends of the Earth Press Release, 27.03.08
- In Deux-Sevres, organic maize is contaminated from 35 kilometres away, Le Monde, 12.05.08
- Sean Poulter, Chinese rice imports tainted with illegal GM strain, Daily Mail, 10.04.08