Since Sept, 2006 through 2007, thousands of Filipinos were concerned with the reported discovery of genetically engineered (GE) rice in US long-grain rice shipments to different countries, esp to the European Union. Many groups and individuals- teachers, students, religious, priests and bishops, workers, farmers, government and business employees, and others wrote Pres Gloria Macapagal Arroyo,the Dept of Agriculture , the Bu of Plant Industry and the National Food Authority opposing the entry and import of US rice which may be contaminated with the reported “unauthorized GE rice”.
Despite their best efforts to urge the authorities to act against the entry of the said contaminated US long-grain rice and to stop its importation, it has entered the country seemingly surreptitiously in 2006 and this year as US “cheap rice” imported by the NFA itself in the midst of what media projects as “rice crisis” ( People doubt this crisis because a number of provinces are known to have bumper rice harvests and it seems importation is resorted to so routinely by the government to the dissatisfaction of many local farmers whose harvests have not been bought by the NFA.)
GE Rice Sold in Major Supermarkets. Thanks to the relentless monitoring of Green Peace which took samples from supermarkets and got them tested in a Japanese laboratory. Tests show the presence of GE rice in US long-grain samples in Nov,2006 and recently . On the first occasion, Purefeeds, Inc distributed “Uncle Sam Texas Long Grain in major supermarkets like Shopwise, SM and Robinsons (Phil Daily Inquirer, 29 Nov 2006). While it was announced by the NFA that Purefeeds promised to pull its stocks from the market, a cursory visit to a branch of SM in Manila showed the then ongoing sale of Uncle Sam Texas Long Grain This April, samples of the Blue Ribbon Texas Long Grain was found “positive for GMO rice strain LL601”. Those of Riceland Arkansas Long Grain were found “ ‘contaminated ‘ by a still unknown GMO strain”. Both are sold at supermarkets in Metro Manila.(Phil Daily Inquirer, 25 Apr 2008).
It was reported that “NFA Administrator Jessup Navarro last month said that the shipment had been tested and certified as GMO-free by the Eurofins Gene Scan through the US Dept of Agriculture” and that “the test results were also verified by USDA/Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration”( To its credit, according to a reliable source, the Dept of Agri has been insisting that no GE rice enter the country and so Mr Navarro was referring to a testing protocol of US rice shipment .In addition, DA Adm Order #8 , 2002 “directs that before any plant or animal is imported or released to the environment, it must undergo a risk assessment by the Bu of Plant Industry, the Bu of Animal Industry and the Fisheries Products Standards so that the potential risks of GMO products to health and environment could be reviewed”).
EU Rejects US-tested “GE-free” Rice. Green Peace, however, doubts the reliability of US tests because “since Jan, 2007, twenty-three (23) US-tested GMO-free rice shipments were rejected in the European Union (EU) because they tested positive for GMOs under EU standards”.(Business World, 17April 2008)
Six days after Green Peace announced that the US “cheap rice” imported by the NFA was found positive for genetically engineered/modified (GE/GM) rice and asked the government to stop its sale, major newspapers have not reported any urgent move on the part of government to do anything about this.
Rats Fed with GE Soy, Corn, Potato Show Health Damages. It seems that the authorities are not duly worried that there are reported separate studies which show that considerable damage to internal organs and blood changes occurred among rats fed with certain GE soya, corn and potato (GM Watch Daily Oct, 2005; May,2005; June,2005; Feb, 2007 at http//www/gmwatch.org). The results of the said studies with GE corn and potato were concealed for years and it took court action to force Monsanto, the developer, to make public their findings. The scientists who reviewed these animal studies point to the necessity of “full scale tests on the influence of GE products over living creatures” before these are marketed. .No such tests have been done on any of the GE food and food products imported into the Philippines , much less on the said GE contaminant of US rice shipment.
Nowhere in the world is GE rice legally marketed and eaten. Filipinos on this scale are the first to eat this untested, unauthorized GE rice that strayed into rice crops which the US has shipped to different countries.
Is not the sale in supermarkets and other outlets of NFA-imported US “cheap rice”, found contaminated with GE rice, tantamount to the government forcing Filipinos to act as guinea pigs in a nationwide haphazard feeding experiment? Unwittingly, uninformed and unsuspecting Filipinos are willing and paying subjects of this GMO experiment. Who is monitoring this? Who is in charge? Who is accountable for whatever harm can happen to health? to environment?
Philippine rice varieties can be contaminated by GE rice in a manner similar to what has happened to rice crops in the US . What can happen to the poor farmers? to us, rice-eating Filipinos? What can become of Philippine agriculture? of the economy?
Together with all concerned Filipinos, Lingkod Tao-Kalikasan calls on President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to order the recall of all US long grain rice and rice products from supermarket shelves and other NFA distribution outlets NOW. We join Green Peace in asking “the government to quarantine the February shipment (44,000 metric tons or 880,000 bags) and conduct a joint sampling (as stringent as EU standards) of the imported rice to safeguard Filipinos from the unauthorized rice”. We ask Sec Arthur Yap of the Dept of Agriculture to implement strictly and transparently its own Adm Order #8 regarding genetically engineered plant and plant products and animals in order to safeguard public health and the environment.
Sr Ma Aida Velasquez, OSB
Coordinator, Lingkod Tao-Kalikasan
29 April 2008
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