1.GM rice can increase supplies - researchers
2.Statement on the potential allergenicity of the Bt toxin, Cry1Ac, in GM rice

GM WATCH COMMENT: Robert Zeigler, Director General of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), has been busy punting GM rice on the sidelines of the current international rice conference in India.

According to the article below, Ziegler claimed China has already developed a GM rice variety that prevents insect losses and "it is perfectly safe to consume".

And yet research on GM cotton cultivation in China has already shown how a GM crop designed to prevent insect losses can fail, causing significant economic damage to the farmers growing it.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=86&page=1

Still more disturbingly, the GM rice variety that Ziegler claims "is perfectly safe to consume"

contains a toxin with significant potential allergenicity, according to a statement by 3 leading international scientific experts - Professor Ian F.Pryme, Professor Gilles-Eric Seralini, and Dr. Christian Velot.

They point out that this rice contains a gene for the Cry1Ac protein, or possibly for a fusion Cry1Ab/Cry1Ac protein with similar immunogenic properties to Cry1Ac3. Cry1Ac, the scientists write, "has not been approved for human consumption in any food crop and there is concern over its potential allergenicity." Research into the gene for Cry1Ac has found that "the Cry1Ac protoxin is a potent immunogen."

That Ziegler should punt an unapproved GM rice variety with such concerns surrounding it as "perfectly safe to consume" speaks volumes about his agenda and the nature of IRRI's commitment to GM rice.

IRRI's annual reports show it has benefitted for decades from grants from a whole array of US and European agrochemical and biotech corporations including Monsanto, Union Carbide Asia, Bayer Philippines, Ciba Geigy (later part of Novartis Seeds which is now part of Syngenta), Hoechst, and Cyanamid Far East.

And they have had a good return for their money. IRRI has been working on developing GM rice since as early as 1990 and it has been a key player in the (GM) Golden Rice project since 2001. In 2003, Gerard Barry, a leading Monsanto executive, was appointed Coordinator of the IRRI's Golden Rice Network 'to facilitate the development and deployment' in Asian countries of the GM rice.

Ziegler's comments suggest some at IRRI are prepared to 'facilitate the development and deployment' of GM rice regardless of the consequences.

For a detailed profile of IRRI:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=296&page=I

For the scientists' full statement and references, see item 2 below.
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1.GM rice can increase supplies - researchers
By Sameer Mohindru IoL (South Africa), October 11 2006
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=143&art_id=qw116051652115B25

New Delhi - Genetically modified rice holds the key to meeting the growing global demand for rice, provided producers and governments adequately address concerns about biosafety, the chief of the world's premier rice research body said on Tuesday.

Work toward developing genetically modified rice is taking place in several countries and can make a huge difference in global supplies, Robert Zeigler, Director General of the Manila-based International Rice Research Institute said.

He said the demand for global rice is increasing two percent annually and could rise 50 percent by 2025 from the current consumption of 615-million metric tons a year.

Zeigler said only around seven percent of the world's rice production is globally traded and the rest is consumed locally. In such circumstances, if large countries like China and India begin to import huge volumes of rice in the future, the already thin global trade in rice will get further stretched.

"Any large scale increase in demand can have serious impact on rise in prices of rice and even make it unaffordable for poor countries such as Bangladesh and those in Africa," Zeigler told Dow Jones Newswires on the sidelines of an international conference here.

But there is strong opposition to genetically modified rice in some European countries, and environmental groups have expressed concerns that genetic modification poses risks to the environment and traditional crops.

Devinder Sharma, a New Delhi-based food policy analyst, said farmers in Philippines, Indonesia, India and Vietnam have been able to increase rice yields by resorting to organic farming and not using pesticides.

Sharma cautioned that genetically modified crops could expose humans to ecological and health risks.

Zeigler said China has already developed such a rice variety that prevents insect losses and "it is perfectly safe to consume". But the Chinese government has yet to allow commercial planting of this variety, Zeigler said. - Sapa-AP
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2.Scientists' statement from:
Professor Ian F.Pryme, Professor Gilles-Eric Seralini, Dr. Christian Velot
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7023

Original at http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/ScientistStatementHealthConcernsGErice

Statement on the potential allergenicity of the Bt toxin, Cry1Ac

We, the undersigned, note with concern the recent discoveries of contamination of rice1 and rice products, including baby food2, with an experimental genetically engineered (GE) rice. The GE rice contains a gene for the Cry1Ac protein, or possibly for a fusion Cry1Ab/Cry1Ac protein with similar immunogenic properties to Cry1Ac3.

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