GM rice safe, says EU food-safety watchdog

The consumption of illegally imported GM rice from the US does not pose an imminent safety concern, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has announced. However, it adds, exposure cannot be accurately estimated.

The EFSA’s GMO expert panel issued a statement on 15 September to the effect that the consumption of imported long-grain rice containing trace levels of LLRICE601, an unauthorised GM variety, is “not likely to pose an imminent safety concern to humans or animals”.

But, at the same time, the panel added that it does not have enough information to make an accurate judgement. “Exposure levels to LLRICE601 in the EU member states cannot be estimated accurately from the data provided and little is known with respect to the extent of LLRICE601 in the rice supply,” the agency said.

The statement came in response to a request from the European Commission concerning whether there were scientific grounds for alarm, after it emerged that traces of the unauthorised strain, developed by Bayer CropScience, had entered the EU food supply chain from the United States. The finding prompted the Commission to impose systematic checks at its borders on 23 August (EURACTIV 24 Aug. 2006).

Meanwhile, in Britain, environmental group Friends of the Earth said that it had found traces of GMOs in two rice samples from Morrisons stores, forcing the retailer to withdraw the products. It was not clear, however, if the strain was of the LLRICE601 variety. The group sent out a complaint to the Food Standards Agency in what could later evolve into a full-scale legal action against the UK food safety watchdog.

Earlier in the week, the Federation of European Rice Millers, a trade association that represents around 90% of all EU trade in rice, told European food safety experts that 33 samples out of 162 analysed using a validated method had tested positive for LLRICE601 (EURACTIV 13 Sept. 2006).

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