Rice recalled over gene contamination

The US Department of Agriculture on Mar. 5 took the unusual step of insisting that US farmers refrain from planting a popular variety of long-grain rice because preliminary tests showed that its seed stock may be contaminated with a variety of gene-altered rice not approved for marketing in the United States. The agency issued "emergency action notifications" to distributors to prevent planting of Clearfield CL131 rice seed. Similar orders will be issued to farmers to prevent use of the seed until the agency's Animal and Plant Health Inspection tests the rice. Arkansas state officials say the Clearfield variety apparently contains a genetically modified strain made by the Bayer CropScience that contains a gene which makes it resistant to the herbicide Liberty. Clearfield 131 was not developed as a genetically engineered variety and is popular among rice growers in the United States because it is resistant to red rice weed. BASF Agricultural Products, which developed the seed, notified the USDA of the contamination last week, and announced on March 5 that it was removing all Clearfield CL131 rice seed from the marketplace. "USDA, through its own testing, is in the process of confirming the results reported by BASF Corporation," said Ron DeHaven, head of the department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. DeHaven said trace levels of an already-approved genetically engineered trait also were identified in Clearfield CL131 last week. "Because of the possibility that the genetic material in question is regulated," the inspection service is investigating "to determine the circumstances surrounding the release and whether any violations of USDA regulations occurred," he said. The announcement marks the third time in six months that US rice has been found to be inexplicably contaminated with engineered traits, and it comes just weeks before the spring planting season. Adding to the potential disruption, the variety of rice affected is one that many farmers had planned to switch to this spring to avoid a different contaminated strain. Last August, Cheniere rice was found to be contaminated with an herbicide-resistance gene that had been under study in 2001 but was never approved or brought to market. The discovery continues to disrupt US rice exports, even though the trait won speedy approval last December.