GMW: USDA lying to South Korea over contaminatred rice?

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GMW: USDA lying to South Korea over contaminatred rice?

" GM WATCH " <info

Mon, 21 Aug 2006 22:06:09 +0100

 

 

 

Guess which country it will probably be sold in? In a country with no

problems about marketing Genetically Modified foods, and Big Agra has

been selling GM foods for over 8 years and the buying public isn't

even aware of it?

 

 

GMW: USDA lying to South Korea over contaminatred rice?

 

 

 

GM WATCH daily

http;//www.gmwatch.org

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According to US Agriculture Secrertary Mike Johanns, the US Department

of Agriculture (USDA) is engaging trading partners " very, very

directly " on the contaminated rice issue.

 

Just how " directly " may be indicated by this article from South Korea

where the Ministry of Agriculture has apparently been lead to understand

that " South Korea has not imported U.S. long-grain rice tested positive

to contain genetically engineered strains not approved for

consumption. "

 

According to an article in The Korea Times - see below - the Ministry

is saying that no contaminated rice can have been imported because, " all

rice imports from the U.S. are screened by the USDA-run Grain

Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration before they are shipped

abroad. "

 

How very reassuring. Except, the EPA's former biotech specialist, Dr

Doug Gurian-Sherman, tells us that while he doesn't know whether or not

USDA is testing every shipment that goes for export, " it would not be

for unapproved events or experimental genes from field trials. In most

cases, USDA does not even have the needed information - DNA probes or

protein tests - to detect these events. " That's quite apart, he says,

from the question of how thorough any testing is; what the level of

detection is, and so on.

 

The reality seems to be the USDA is clueless

about just about everything except the art of offering false

reassurances.

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No Genetically Modified US Rice Imported to South Korea

The Korea Times, 20 August 2006

http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/biz/200608/kt2006082020574511910.htm

 

South Korea has not imported U.S. long-grain rice tested positive to

contain genetically engineered strains not approved for consumption, the

Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said.

 

As part of a World Trade Organization-regulated deal, South Korea

imported several thousand tons of U.S. rice last year but the shipment

did

not include the genetically modified LLRICE 601 strain, the ministry

said in a statement.

 

On Friday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said that the

genetically modified strain, unapproved in the U.S. for consumption, was

detected in long-grain rice samples in storage facilities in the states

of Arkansas and Missouri.

 

" The U.S. rice imported to South Korea is different from the one that

has been found to contain the strain, " a ministry spokesman said.

 

The ministry said that all rice imports from the U.S. are screened by

the USDA-run Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration

before they are shipped abroad.

 

Japan has halted long-grain rice imports from the U.S. after the USDA's

announcement, according to Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

 

08-20-2006 20:57

 

 

 

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