A Hani farmer is holding his traditional rice seeds in his hand, Yunnan Province, China.
"The GE industry is out of control," said Greenpeace GE
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."
A Greenpeace research team discovered unapproved GE rice being
sold and grown illegally in the Chinese province of Hubei.
Interviews with seed providers and farmers indicate that GE rice
seeds have been sold over the past two years. Samples of rice seed,
unmilled and milled rice have been collected from seed companies,
farmers and rice millers. Testing by the international laboratory
Genescan has confirmed the presence of GE DNA in 19 samples.
The evidence from the lab, combined with field reports, confirms
that some of the illegal GE varieties are Bt Rice - which is
genetically engineered to produce an inbuilt pesticide. Greenpeace
estimates that at least 950 to 1200 tons of GE rice entered the
food chain after last year's harvest, and that up to 13,500 tons
may enter the food chain after this year unless urgent action is
taken.
According to Greenpeace International Scientist, Dr Janet
Cotter, this is a very serious problem requiring urgent Government
action: "There are strong warning signs that this GE Bt rice could
cause allergenic reactions in humans. It has been shown that the
protein produced in Bt rice (called Cry1Ac) may have induced
allergenic-type responses in mice (1). To date, there has been no
human food safety testing of Bt rice."
China is a major exporter of rice and it is expected that the
contamination scandal may have significant trade and market
impacts, particularly in countries like Japan and Korea where
consumer rejection of GE foods is very high. A similar case in the
USA in 2000 resulted in a $1 billion product recall amid concerns
of potential allergenic reactions after GE corn (Starlink)
illegally entered the human food chain.
"This will have a major impact on the Chinese as well as
international rice markets," said Sze. "China is one of the world's
major rice exporters and our customers in Japan, Korea, Russia and
Europe are strongly opposed to GE foods."
Consumer concern over GE foods in China is also rising. In an
opinion poll released by Greenpeace in March, 73% of the
respondents said they would choose non-GE rice over GE rice.
China is considering commercialization of GE rice and officials
have indicated a decision may be made this year. The contamination
scandal raises the question of whether the government could
regulate GE rice. "The government has not controlled GE rice in the
research stage, how will it regulate large scale
commercialization?" Sze said.
Briefing available here.
Other contacts: Sze Pang Cheung, GE Campaigner, Greenpeace China +86 13911460884 (Beijing)Janet Cotter, Greenpeace International Science Unit, (UK) +44 781 217 4783 (UK)Zhou Meiyue, Media Officer, Greenpeace China, mobile +86 139 100 36849 (Beijing)Maya Catsanis, Media Officer, Greenpeace International, mobile +61 407 742 025 (Sydney)
VVPR info: Video and photo images of the GE rice are available from: http://photos.greenpeace.org.au
Notes: (1) Moreno-Fierros, L., García, N., Gutiérrez, R., López-Revilla, R. & Vázquez-Padrón, R.I.2000. Intranasal, rectal and intraperitoneal immunization with protoxin Cry1Ac from Bacillus thuringiensis induces compartmentalized serum, intestinal, vaginal and pulmonary immune responses in Balb/c mice. Microbes and Infectection 2: 885-890 and references therein.
Exp. contact date: 2005-05-27 00:00:00