“The exorbitant cost of this contamination scandal should be a
warning to any industry thinking of venturing down the GE route,”
said Dr. Doreen Stabinsky, Greenpeace genetic engineering
campaigner. “It is clear that GE crops, even field trials, are a
high risk, and pose a threat to every link in the conventional food
production chain. Banning crop trials and cultivation of GE rice is
the only way to prevent a recurrence of such a disaster.”
The Greenpeace report, “Risky Business: Economic and Regulatory
Impacts From the Unintended Release of Genetically Engineered Rice
Varieties Into the Rice Merchandising System of the U.S.,” is the
first quantification of the costs of the Bayer GE rice
contamination scandal. Rice growers, harvesters, processors,
millers and retailers were impacted by the scandal which affected
63 percent of U.S. rice exports. The overall cost to the industry,
estimated at over $1.2 billion, including losses of up to $253
million from food product recalls alone. Future export losses
amount to $445 million.
Hundreds of U.S. farmers and European businesses have filed
lawsuits against Bayer
in attempts to recoup their losses. Punitive or statutory
damages, which may be awarded against Bayer, may double or even
triple the final cost of the GE contamination incident. GE rice
field trials have just been approved in India, where markets for
both basmati and non-basmati rice could be threatened. Developing
nations, such as India and Thailand, the two largest rice
exporters, are closely watching the development of the U.S.
scandal.
“Who will compensate India’s farmers and millers if the Indian
rice industry suffers a catastrophe on the scale of what happened
here in the U.S.?” asked Stabinsky. “Bayer has blamed the
contamination on an ‘Act of God’ and the U.S. government has been
unable to find what caused it despite a 14-month investigation.
There is only one way for the rice industry to protect itself from
another billion dollar debacle and that is to prevent GE rice from
ever being grown,” she concluded.
VVPR info: [email protected]
Notes: The full report can be found at: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/assets/binaries/Risky-Business-rice-report
A shorter briefing of the report can be found at: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/assets/binaries/risky-business-rice-report-briefing
