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State agriculture chief says modified rice poses no health risk Thursday, Aug 31, 2006 By Betsy Turner Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - The appearance of genetically modified rice in Arkansas poses no health risks but is affecting sales particularly in Western Europe, state Agriculture Secretary Richard Bell told legislators Wednesday. Bell testified before the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development about the recent discovery of LLRICE 601 in Arkansas and several other states. LLRICE 601, which has not been approved by the USDA for commercial distribution, was genetically engineered by Bayer CropScience to be resistant to a herbicide known as Liberty. Bell said the reports labeling the rice as tainted, bad or contaminated were untrue. "There are no food safety or environmental issues at all," the state agriculture chief said. "Both the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration of Washington have assured that they are both safe for food and there is no environmental impact." Bell said the rice represented a marketing and regulatory issue. The appearance of the modified crop has caused the price for rice to fall 90 cents in the futures market but it is moving domestically. He said the sale of rice since the discovery has posed problems in Western Europe because of the European Union's rules concerning genetically engineered crops. "We will need to certify rice being imported there is free of 601 Liberty Line Rice," Bell said. "And they haven't given us a tolerance." The modified rice only affects long grains, not medium grains, according to Bell. He said he suspected there was more than one variety of the rice because of its wide disbursement. Bell said he knew of no companies in Arkansas that were responsible for the modified rice's entry into the supply and said he doubted it would be traced back to the state. He cautioned the public not to rush to judgment on Bayer's involvement in the recent appearance as well. He said the modified rice could have been stolen or got out by accident. State Rep. Benny Petrus, D-Stuttgart, questioned Bell on how rice farmers could protect themselves when planting in the future. "We know its out there in the crop, and there is nothing we can do about it," Petrus said. "We just got to work through. But what precautions can we take for our seeds for the 2007 crop." Bell said Bayer and the federal regulatory agencies are looking into deregulating LLRICE 601, which could take several months. "We don't know if there is some variety we won't want to plant in 2007," Bell said. He said in the future, the state might need to examine a better system for tracing genetically engineered strains. Rep. Travis Boyd, D-Piggott, the committee chairman, said the issue will be discussed in greater detail at a special meeting on Oct. 5. |
