The European Union (EU) is expected to crack down on US rice imports, following the discovery of an unauthorised variety of genetically modified rice in commercial US rice supplies.

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According to a report in the Financial Times, the measures will stipulate that only rice shipments that have been scientifically tested and found not to contain the GM variety will be allowed into the EU.


“We are preparing measures that we hope will be adopted tomorrow in order to ensure that unauthorised GM products do not reach European consumers,” a European Commission spokesperson was quoted as saying yesterday (22 August).


Life sciences company Bayer CropScience said last week it had found traces of an unauthorised GM strain in rice developed for commercial rice supplies. This led to an immediate suspension of US rice imports in Japan.

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