Contamination by biotech rice could cost U.S. industry $1.2 billion

The contamination of American rice production by an unapproved strain of genetically modified rice could have cost as much as $1.2 billion, an environmental group said. The losses came through the loss of exports, product recalls, and a drop in the futures market, according to Greenpeace. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Greenpeace said at least thirty countries were affected when traces of a regulated strain of biotech rice not approved for human consumption found its way into the U.S food supply last year. Discovery of the strain, produced by the German company Bayer Crop Science AG and grown in U.S. laboratories, in grain elevators led to a halt in imports by the European Union and by major buyers such as the Philippines. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the engineered protein in the experimental rice presented no health hazard or environmental concerns, and it was subsequently taken off its list of regulated products.

Greenpeace released a report it commissioned by agricultural economist Neal Blue that calculated the losses in the industry as between $741 million to $1.2 billion. Trade was stopped or disrupted to Mexico, Japan, and Taiwan, among other markets, the report said. Rice growers, harvesters, processors, millers, and retailers all suffered losses, and 63 percent of rice exports were affected, the report said. It was not conclusively determined how the experimental rice contaminated commercially approved strains. It was developed to resist a specific type of herbicide. “When this was announced in August 2006, prices on the futures market dropped precipitously,” said Greenpeace campaigner Doreen Stabinsky. The price recovered, but too late for many farmers, and the Philippines is only now resuming imports of American rice. Greenpeace said hundreds of farmers are suing Bayer seeking to recoup their losses.

Though the rice, known as LL601 or Liberty Link, was deregulated in the United States, Stabinsky said no other country had approved its commercial sale. European Union nations decided to test all U.S. long-grain rice imports to make sure they did not contain biotech varieties not authorized by the EU. The European Food Safety Authority said last year that information provided by Bayer was “insufficient to allow a full risk assessment,” and has still not ruled on whether the rice is safe for humans to eat.