No - not Condi (at least not this time).
It's Sunday morning in London. I'm off to the shops to pick up a few odds and ends. Amongst what I'm looking for is brown rice. Ordinary brown rice.
Sainsburys - nope.
Waitrose - nope
I hop down to Elmers End to Tesco - nope (well they did have organic brown basmati at something like £2.20 a kilo - no thanks)
So why is there no brown rice in Britain? Could it be that the Americans are trying to poison us with unapproved GM rice?
The US government knew about it and didn't tell the UK. Now we find out the UK government, in the form of the Food Standards Agency, has told retailers that it does not expect them to remove product from the shelves or to test their products. The retailers, knowing the significant resistance of the British consumer to GM products, appear not to have taken their advice.
Greepeace believes that up to 20% of the rice entering Europe from the US is contaminated, based on EU data.
The strain in question, LL601 developed by Bayer, was tested in the US between 1998 and 2001. It was never approved for use. Bayer, of course, claims it is safe for human consumption
There fact that there is material contamination of the rice exported to Europe leaves little doubt that the US protocols for GM trials have insufficient safeguards to prevent cross-contamination. It also suggests that the presence of this variety should be expected in the US food chain. LSU reports that the presence of the GM material has been found in their seed bank in non-GM varieties.
For the conspiracy theorists perhaps this is just part of a cunning plan on the part of Blair supporters to do away with anything Brown.
In the meantime I guess I have to do without rice....
It's Sunday morning in London. I'm off to the shops to pick up a few odds and ends. Amongst what I'm looking for is brown rice. Ordinary brown rice.
Sainsburys - nope.
Waitrose - nope
I hop down to Elmers End to Tesco - nope (well they did have organic brown basmati at something like £2.20 a kilo - no thanks)
So why is there no brown rice in Britain? Could it be that the Americans are trying to poison us with unapproved GM rice?
The US government knew about it and didn't tell the UK. Now we find out the UK government, in the form of the Food Standards Agency, has told retailers that it does not expect them to remove product from the shelves or to test their products. The retailers, knowing the significant resistance of the British consumer to GM products, appear not to have taken their advice.
Greepeace believes that up to 20% of the rice entering Europe from the US is contaminated, based on EU data.
The strain in question, LL601 developed by Bayer, was tested in the US between 1998 and 2001. It was never approved for use. Bayer, of course, claims it is safe for human consumption
There fact that there is material contamination of the rice exported to Europe leaves little doubt that the US protocols for GM trials have insufficient safeguards to prevent cross-contamination. It also suggests that the presence of this variety should be expected in the US food chain. LSU reports that the presence of the GM material has been found in their seed bank in non-GM varieties.
For the conspiracy theorists perhaps this is just part of a cunning plan on the part of Blair supporters to do away with anything Brown.
In the meantime I guess I have to do without rice....
1 comment:
Here in Oxford you can get brown rice in Cowley at the ethnic Indian and Chinese groceries, I believe, but I forget what we pay for it (my wife is the one who goes down to buy the stuff).
Failing that, you can hop in your car (or into the Eurostar), go to France, stop at the first L'Eclerc you see, and stock up. It'll cost half what it costs here, as well.
While you're at it, buy lots of cheap French wine at half the price, too.
Wondering why Britain doesn't join the Euro? There'd be pitchforks and torches in the streets if people found out how badly they're being screwed, price-wise.
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