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 FoE Goes to Court over Illegal GM ice in UK 
  
 Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit 
  
 sent by marcus @myrealbox.com (activ-l) 
  
 Friends of the Earth Press Release - Feb 16, 2007 
  
 ADVANCE NOTICE 
  
 ILLEGAL GM RICE IN THE UK - FRIENDS OF THE EARTH TAKES FSA TO COURT 
  
 Judicial Review: 20/21 February 2007 
  
 Press Office: +44 20 7566 1649 
  
 Friends of the Earth's judicial review of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) 
 for 
 its failure to act over illegal genetically modified (GM) rice that entered 
 the UK food chain last year will be heard in the High Court on Tuesday/ 
 Wednesday 20th and 21st February. The case centres on the contamination of 
 US 
 long grain rice with an experimental GM strain grown in the US - the most 
 significant illegal GM food contamination incident to affect the UK to date. 
 It is now known to have contaminated rice on sale in supermarkets in the UK 
 and around the world. 
  
 Friends of the Earth believes that the FSA has failed in its legal 
 obligations 
 to check for contaminated rice on the market in the UK, and should have done 
 more to work with local authorities and the food industry to make sure 
 illegal 
 GM rice was detected and removed from shelves and other parts of the market 
 [1]. 
  
 What does Friends of the Earth want? 
  
 Friends of the Earth is seeking a legal declaration that the FSA failed in 
 its 
 legal obligations over this incident. Concerns include: 
  
 *Failing to take action to implement emergency EU legislation to make sure 
 that illegal GM rice was not sold to UK consumers 
  
 *Ignoring potentially contaminated rice that reached the market since 
 January 
 2006. Instead it focused on "preventing any further GM-containing stocks 
 entering the UK markets". 
  
 *Ignoring the precautionary principle enshrined in EU GM law. Instead it 
 stated early on in the incident that the presence of GM rice in the food 
 chain 
 "is not a health concern" despite the lack of scientific evidence to back 
 this 
 up 
  
 *Meeting privately with the food industry and telling them that there was no 
 need to withdraw any contaminated rice that they found, despite the fact 
 that 
 any presence of unapproved GM ingredients is illegal 
  
 *Failing to require enforcement action by local food authorities such as 
 testing for contaminated rice in their areas. 
  
 A declaration stating that the FSA failed in its legal obligations would set 
 an important precedent and ensure that if such a GM contamination incident 
 happens in the future, the FSA would take much more effective action to 
 ensure 
 that UK consumers are not exposed to illegal GM ingredients. Friends of the 
 Earth is also calling for the FSA to carry out a thorough review of its 
 approach to GM foods (which has been described as giving "the impression 
 that 
 it supported the concept of GM foods" in an independent review in 2005) and 
 to 
 ensure that it puts in place a more pro-active policy on testing food 
 imports 
 for illegal contamination. 
  
 Background 
  
 Illegal GM rice found in the food chain 
  
 On 18 August last year, the US Department of Agriculture announced that an 
 illegal GM rice strain, unapproved for human consumption, had contaminated 
 long grain rice supplies destined for export. The rice, LLRICE601, owned by 
 biotechnology company Bayer CropScience, has been genetically modified to be 
 resistant to the company's weedkiller, Liberty (glufosinate). The 
 contamination was initially discovered in January 2006, but it wasnt until 
 July that its identity was confirmed as LLRICE601. Contaminated long grain 
 rice had been exported from the US for at least seven months. 
  
 LLRICE601 was grown experimentally in the US from 1999 to 2001 and following 
 the field trials, Bayer were not intending to pursue commercialisation. At 
 the 
 time the contamination was revealed, the rice had not been approved as safe 
 for cultivation or food use anywhere in the world. Bayer has developed two 
 other GM rice strains also resistant to the Liberty herbicide  LL62 (for 
 which it has applied for import approval in the EU), and LL06. 
  
 The European Commission takes action 
  
 Five days after the contamination was revealed, the European Commission put 
 in 
 place emergency legal measures to deal with the incident. All long grain 
 rice 
 imported from the US had to have a certificate stating that it was free of 
 LLRICE601 before it could be marketed in the EU. Furthermore, member states 
 were also required to take action in relation to products already on the 
 market, such as rice imported into the EU before the contamination came to 
 light, in order to "verify the absence of genetically modified rice 'LL RICE 
 601' ". This is where Friends of the Earth believes the FSA failed to act, 
 and 
 it forms the central issue for the judicial review. 
  
 Following an incident in Rotterdam, where a shipment of long grain rice was 
 tested positive for LLRICE601 by Dutch authorities after holding a 
 certificate 
 saying it was GM-free, the EC tightened up the emergency legislation to 
 require counter testing of all US long grain rice by EU member states at the 
 port of entry. The discrepancy over testing resulted from a more sensitive 
 test being used in Europe than in the US. These emergency measures are still 
 in place [2]. 
  
 Extent of contamination 
  
 Illegal contamination of long grain rice has been found across Europe and 
 worldwide. Friends of the Earth commissioned testing of rice on supermarket 
 shelves and found positive products in Morrisons and Somerfield. Further 
 testing by supermarkets has confirmed positive samples in Sainsbury's, Tesco 
 and Asda and Marks & Spencer in Ireland. 
  
 According to the rice industry, around 50% of long grain rice imported into 
 the EU is likely to have been contaminated at low levels. In Europe, 17 
 countries have reported contamination. And testing by Friends of the Earth 
 in 
 West Africa found contaminated rice in food aid and commercial rice supplies 
 in Sierra Leone and Ghana. 
  
 Why is Friends of the Earth legally challenging the FSA? 
  
 The FSA is responsible for dealing with this contamination incident in the 
 UK, 
 but it has failed to make sure consumers in the UK are not exposed to 
 illegal 
 GM rice. The FSA has focused on preventing further contaminated rice 
 entering 
 the UK  for example by commissioning testing of long grain rice held at rice 
 mills, but has ignored contaminated rice already on the market. This 
 includes 
 rice on sale in shops, and used by commercial and public sector caterers (eg 
 the NHS and school meals). An internal meeting note reveals that this 
 decision 
 was taken shortly after a meeting with the rice industry "It was decided not 
 to sample from supermarket shelves because of the massive resource 
 implications in tracing all contaminated end products". The European 
 Commission confirmed that "intensive and targeted controls on products, 
 which 
  
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