August 22,2006

• Following reports of the presence of LLRICE601 in commercially available rice, trading partners abroad tightened   biotech controls. _ Consequently, Wall Street Journal reported major disruptions in the rice market such as rapidly declining prices causing damage to farmers, companies and biotech firms. Reuters reported that rice prices hit an all time low in two months time amidst speculations of further fall in the export market.

• US rice growers account for about 12 percent of the world rice trade with three-fourths of the crop comprising of long grain rice.

August 23,2006

• The European Commission decided that the EU would require US to certify that long grain rice imports are free from the unauthorized strain. The Commission said validated tests must be done by an accredited laboratory and be accompanied by a certificate.

• Under EU food safety legislation, only those GMOs that have under-gone a thorough scientific assessment and authorization procedure may be put on the EU market. Further, EU food law principle require business operators to ensurethat the LLRICE 601 variety does not enter the food chain and imports are free from this unauthorized variety.

 August 26,2006

• GM free Cymru, a GM watchdog group urged all UK supermarket chains to take all products containing US long grain rice off the Shelves.

•  It reminded supermarket chiefs that LLRICE 601 has never been tested for safety nor approved for cultivation in EU or US in spite of assurances from the US Secretary of Agriculture that it is 'completely safe'.

• It also expressed concern that this issue of contamination is serious since American long grain rice is a primary food consumed unprocessed by millions of consumers across the EU. It is also used as in baby food as cereal.

 August 28,2006

• Rice farmers in the southern states of Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and California filed a lawsuit against Bayer Crop Science alleging that it failed to check the illegal rice variety from entering the food chain and contaminated their crops.

• They alleged that due to its failure to check contamination, Japan and EU have placed strict limits on US rice imports. Rice prices have decreased considerably after the ban, hence jeopardizing their rice exports.

 September 12,2006

• The USDA has been reported to have initiated fast-track market approval of Bayer's illegal GM rice.

• Bayer Crop Science have asked the USDA to grant retroactive market approval of the illegal rice.

 September 14,2006

• The Center for Food Safety (CFS) filed a legal petition with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)t hat seeks to prevent the post hoc approval of an illegal genetically engineered rice recently found in the world's food supply. On August 22nd, Bayer  Crop Science sought an after-the- fact USDA rubber stamp for the illegal rice, known as  LLRICE601. The contamination episode has triggered major disruptions to U.S. rice exports, caused substantial losses to farmers as rice prices plummet, and exposed consumers to an inadequately tested genetically engineered crop. The CFS petition presents both legal and scientific grounds as to why USDA should deny Bayer's request.

• Friends of the Earth, Ghana (FoE), a non-governmental environmental organization, on Thursday called on the Government to immediately restrict rice imports from United States into the country. Ghana is among the top 10 importers of rice from the US. The FoE at media briefing in Accra said such lapses had immense and tremendous consequences for public health and environmental integrity. It thus called on the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and Ministry of Trade to initiate investigations to ascertain whether recent rice imports from the US had not been contaminated and to institute measures to contain the problem if the contaminated rice had not yet hit the Ghanaian market.

September 18,2006

• European Commission confirmed that 33 out of 162 results of rice samples tested by members of the European Federation of Rice Millers tested positive for the LL601 strain. It also reported that three bargeloads of a US rice cargo detained in Rotterdam tested positive for the illegal variety.

• Switzerland's largest retailer Migros confirmed presence of traces of this rice variety, following which retailers like Migros and Coop suspended sales of long-grain US rice.

• In Germany, Greenpeace tests revealed that the illegal rice was found in products sold in eight of the Aldi Nord chain of supermarkets. All sales of the rice in question were stopped.

• France and Sweden have also detected LLRICE601 in imported US supplies. France discovered the presence of the banned variety in more than a third of the tested samples (7 out of 19).

• Greenpeace Southeast Asia expressed fears of serious risks posed to the whole of Southeast Asia mainly because rice is the staple diet of the people of this region.

 September 19,2006

• Tesco Ireland withdrew some of its own-brand US long grain rice as a precautionary measure and declared that any American long grain rice to be packed for Tesco in future will be tested and verified as GM-free.

• Germany's leading supermarket chain Edeka has removed US rice from its stores on the basis that it cannot be  clearly established at present how genetically modified rice could have been mixed with normal rice from the United States.

 September 22,2006

• Italy has found an unauthorized genetically modified variety of rice in shipments from North America, the Health  Ministry said.The ministry said it carried out checks after being alerted by U.S. diplomatic authorities. It found that four samples included the Liberty Link Rice 601,a genetically modified variety developed by Bayer Crop Science AG in the United States. The contaminated rice will be taken off supermarket shelves and either be destroyed or sent back.

• The GM-free Ireland Network has written to the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) demanding why American GM long grain rice is still on sale in Ireland even though GM rice is illegal in the EU and all US long-grain rice imports are banned in Japan and Swizerland.

• The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)and FSAI (whose CEO Dr.John O'Brien is a former director of the  International Life Sciences Institute biotech industry lobby group)claims there is no health risk, even though the EFSA GMO panel said there is insufficient data to justify this claim, and Bayer is refusing to release a secret dossier that might well show that LL601 is genetically  unstable and dangerous.

• The illegal GM rice was found in Tesco, Aldi, and Morrisons stores and has probably been sold by most retailers and consumed for years by millions of people. Kellogs Rice Krispies, Gerber baby food, and Anheuser-Busch beer could also be contaminated.

•   The EU admitted yesterday that some of 12 US rice consignments certified as GM-free were also contaminated, so the certification system is a total farce.

• GM-free Ireland coordinator Michael O'Callaghan has asked the FSAI to ban all imports of US long-grain rice and to recall all US long-grain rice from stores pending further investigation of this massive food safety scandal.

• He said "Dr.John O'Brien's ties to the biotech industry present a clear conflict of interest. Having a former director of a biotech industry lobby group in charge of Ireland's food safety is not acceptable.

 September 28,2006

• Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry's (MAFF) Food Department will start testing all U.S. short-and medium-grain rice imports (whole and broken kernels)and existing rice stocks for the presence of Bayer  Crop Science LLRICE601.Testing will begin with a shipment of U.S. rice that is scheduled to arrive in Japan Sept. 30,2006 but will not apply to processed products. Future import samples will be drawn from the product at loading in the  United States and air mailed to Japan for testing at MAFF's expense. The first results of testing on U.S. rice held in MAFF warehouses in Japan will reportedly be available by next week with all stocks test results ready by late October.

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