Greenpeace wants US rice checked for unsafe chemicals

MANILA, Philippines - International environmental group Greenpeace on Sunday voiced concern over reports of the presence of chemicals in the P25 per kilogram rice imported by the Philippine National Food Authority from the United States. Greenpeace campaigner Jasper Inventor called for an examination of the US rice, which he said might be genetically modified, and could pose danger to health. "Ang medyo issue namin diyan sa US, malaki ang potential na may contamination ang genetically modified rice, hindi proven na ligtas sa kalusugan (Our issue with rice from the US is that it is potentially contaminated with genetically modified rice. It's not proven safe)," Inventor said in an interview on dzBB radio. Rice from China and Thailand are safer because these are not genetically modified, according to Inventor. The NFA on Saturday started distributing US rice to local markets. The US rice replaced the P18.25 per kilogram NFA rice in the markets, which was imported from Vietnam. In the coming weeks, the NFA plans to sell the P18.25 per kilogram rice through local government outlets. "Sinabi din namin sa NFA... several months ago, na kailangang bantayan. Unfortunately, bumabaha sa merkado, medyo nababahala kami (We already told the NFA about our concerns several months ago, and asked them to be wary of genetically modified rice. Unfortunately it has started to flood the market)," Inventor said. Last week, Greenpeace warned the Arroyo administration against resorting to importing genetically modified rice, and urged it to heed the warnings of agricultural scientists that harmful industrial agricultural practices would not solve the food crisis. "The ongoing rice crisis should not be used as an excuse to neglect our existing regulations governing GMOs, especially since there are other sources of GMO-free rice," said Greenpeace Southeast Asia Genetic Engineering Campaigner Daniel Ocampo. The Philippine government's plans to increase fertilizer subsidies and its support of GMO crops, which could result in unsound farming practices that could endanger the agricultural sector, according to Greenpeace. "By using these methods, the government is actually compounding the food problem, not solving it. The worst example is how the National Food Authority has distributed US rice, which has not yet been stringently tested to be GMO-free," Ocampo said. Greenpeace cited a landmark United Nations (UN) report, the first assessment of global agriculture, that recommended the replacement of destructive chemical-intensive agriculture with methods that work with nature. Greenpeace said the UN report was highly critical of GMOs. The report called for a fundamental change in farming practices, which could help address soaring food prices, hunger, social inequities, and environmental disasters. Also, Greenpeace said the report acknowledged that genetically engineered crops were highly controversial, and would not play a substantial role in addressing the key problems of climate change, biodiversity loss, hunger, and poverty. - GMANews.TV