GMOIreland

Greenpeace being economical with the truth again...

Greenpeace claims US rice can cause cancer and even miscarriage

"Initially, GMO rice was meant to protect [rice] against pests, but studies have shown that it can cause cancer and even miscarriage," Ocampo [Greenpeace spokesperson] said.

but this is the same rice that the Food Safety Authority of Ireland in an Aug 2006 statement described as "Consumers can be assured that this is not a food safety issue" Dr. Pat O'Mahony, chief specialist, biotechnology, with the FSAI.

Since then I am not aware of any studies showing LL601 rice causing miscarriages or cancer....

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20080424-132417/Warning-ra\ ised-vs-sale-of-allegedly-contaminated-US-rice

Warning raised vs sale of allegedly contaminated US rice

But NFA spokesman denies Greenpeace claim

By Abigail Kwok

INQUIRER.net Posted date: April 24, 2008

MANILA, Philippines -- At least two brands of US commercial rice being sold in public markets to replace government-subsidized rice could be contaminated, an environmentalist group said.

But Tom Escarez, spokesman of the National Food Auhtority, denied the claim by environment watchdog Greenpeace, saying the government has a certification that the imported rice being sold in public markets were not contaminated with genetically-modified organisms (GMO). In a forum Thursday, Greenpeace said studies revealed that two imported brands of US long grain rice were already contaminated with GMOs. The two brands are Blue Ribbon from Texas and Riceland from Arkansas. These are being sold in all S&R Supermarkets across Metro Manila, the group said. "We don't know how many [US rice] are still contaminated because Greenpeace doesn't have enough funds to conduct a thorough experiment," said Daniel Ocampo, Greenpeace Genetic Engineering Campaigner for South East Asia. But Escarez denied claims. "Meron kaming hawak na certification from the US na GMO-free ang bigas [We have a certification from the US that the rice is GMO-free]. Ang certification na ito ay galing pa sa [This certification even came from the] US Department of Agriculture." "Hindi kasama itong Blue Ribbon at Riceland sa binebenta naming P25 [Blue Ribbon and Riceland are not among the brands that we are selling for P25]. Hindi namin alam itong dalawang brands na ito [We do not know these two brands]," Escarez added. He also said that the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) has yet to find traces of GMO contamination in all of the rice imports in the country. The NFA said it has imported a total of 44,000 metric tons of rice from the US. Meanwhile, Ocampo said, "This is the second time Greenpeace has discovered illegal GMO rice in the country. And, as usual, the Department of Agriculture was unable to detect its entry into our rice supply." Ocampo said that based on their investigation, two kinds of GMO strains were found in US rice sold here. These are LL601 and a still unidentified strain. Traces of LL601 were found in US rice from the Blue Ribbon brand, he said. Ocampo said that GMO rice was different from hybrid rice. GMO rice is made by manually inserting synthetic genes to rice grains to manipulate their traits. The synthetic gene usually would come from a totally different organism. The goal of GMO rice is to protect rice from pests and other harmful organisms in the environment, he said. Hybrid rice is safe because it is made by combining two kinds of rice and is bred through conventional means, Ocampo said. "Initially, GMO rice was meant to protect [rice] against pests, but studies have shown that it can cause cancer and even miscarriage," Ocampo said. Ocampo said that Greenpeace was calling on the NFA to isolate all US long grain rice and to conduct tests to determine if all were contaminated with GMO. He also called on NFA to pull out all US commercial rice from the market. "We challenge the DA, through the NFA, to conduct further and more stringent tests on rice to ensure its safety," Ocampo said. The NFA started selling US commercial rice at P25 per kilo to replace government subsidized rice, which was pulled out from public markets so that these could be distributed in depressed areas.