EU may ban US rice after GM contamination

The EU urged the Bush administration to supply details of an unapproved, gene-modified rice produced by Bayer CropScience AG, which was found in commercial US rice supplies and may prompt an EU import ban. Bayer, the second-biggest cottonseed producer in the US, detected trace amounts of the long-grain rice variety, known as LLRICE 601, in commercial US samples. Bayer field-tested the modified rice from 1998 to 2001, and it tainted the 2005 crop. In response to a similar incident last year, the EU banned US corn imports. The European Commission has requested “more information particularly about risk assessment and detection methods” from the US and Bayer. However, Commission spokesperson said she did not know whether any tainted rice had been imported to Europe. (Bloomberg, Magyar Hírlap)

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