Stores told to remove GM rice from shelves
Friday October 6, 2006
Guardian Unlimited

The government's food watchdog has changed its advice to retailers about genetically modified rice.
Stores must remove any rice known to contain GM strains from their shelves, the Food Standards Agency said.
The move follows ongoing concerns over the presence of GM strains in batches of long-grain rice from the US.
Selling products known to be contaminated with GM material is illegal in the UK, but the FSA previously told businesses that actively tracking down and removing contaminated rice products was unnecessary because they didn't pose an "imminent" health risk.The watchdog's updated advice follows the European Food Safety Authority's (EFSA) assessment of safety implications of GM material in rice.
EFSA experts said rice containing traces of GM material was "not likely" to pose an imminent safety concern, but they found insufficient information to complete a full risk assessment of the issue.
The FSA's advice to consumers is unchanged. Anyone who has US long-grain rice at home can continue to eat it.
An FSA spokesman said today: "We are doing this because there is new information."
The environmental group Friends of the Earth complained that the stepped-up advice had come too late.
The group's GM campaigner, Clare Oxborrow, said: "The FSA should have issued this advice right from the start, instead of playing down the seriousness of the issue.
"The agency is still refusing to carry out any testing of rice on shelves and still failing to require retailers to carry out such testing themselves."
The US government confirmed in August that a genetically modified strain of long-grain rice was found in samples.
In response, the EU introduced emergency measures to stop contaminated rice entering the food chain.
Friends of the Earth researchers claim they have found GM strains in packets of rice and noodles on sale in a number of UK stores.

Web Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/gmdebate/Story/0,,
1889503,00.html