EXTRACTS: ...the U.S. says the burden [of mandatory testing] may be too much for rice trade to continue between the U.S. and Europe.

Since the EU increased monitoring for genetically modified strains, U.S. rice shipments to Europe have halted.

[Floyd Gaibler, U.S. deputy undersecretary for farm and foreign agricultural services] says the [new] European testing program would be "simply too onerous for us to accept." (item 2)
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1.EU to test all US rice imports
By AOIFE WHITE
AP Business Writer
The Associated Press/BRUSSELS, Belgium, OCT. 23
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8KUFR683.htm

European Union nations voted Monday to test all U.S. long-grain rice imports to make sure they don't contain genetically modified varieties that haven't been approved by the EU.

All consignments of U.S. long-grain rice will be sampled and tested at EU entry ports before they can be distributed and sold, the European Commission said. The new rules will go into effect within a few days.

The EU action stems from fears that a banned genetically modified rice strain named Liberty Link Rice 601, which was accidentally imported from the United States, could have found its way into the food supply.

The Commission said it has to start mandatory tests because the EU and the U.S. failed to agree on how to check for genetically modified rice not legally allowed on sale in Europe.

Talks broke down after the sides could not find a way of testing the rice to "a high level of consistency and accuracy" within a 15-day negotiation period, it said.

The costs of testing will be borne by exporters.

The EU buys about 70 million euros ($90 million) worth of U.S. rice each year.

The tests also will check for another unauthorized genetically modified rice, LL Rice 62, recently found in French imports of U.S. rice.

Wary of public health and environmental concerns, the EU allows only genetically modified foodstuffs that have been evaluated and authorized to be placed on the EU market.

While the EU's executive arm insists on a recall of the illegal imports, it has said the presence of LL 601 poses no immediate health risk to humans or animals based on a review of incomplete data provided by the U.S. government and the maker of the rice variety.

Whether the rice is safe to eat or not, it is still cannot be sold in Europe because it has not been evaluated and authorized in line with EU law, the Commission said.

The EU said it was acting in response to finding LL Rice 601 in U.S. shipments four weeks ago. It first stepped up controls on U.S. rice in August after Dutch officials found an unauthorized genetically modified variety in shipments that arrived in the port of Rotterdam in August.

Other shipments also were found in the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy.

The LL 601 strain was developed by Aventis CropScience, which was taken over by Germany's Bayer AG in 2002 and renamed Bayer Crop Science. Bayer announced in July it had found the 601 strain in storage units in Arkansas and Missouri.
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2.EU Tests May Stifle U.S. Rice Imports
Farm Futures staff
Farm Futures, 10/23/2006
http://www.farmfutures.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=CD26BEDECA4A4946A1283CC7786AEB5A&nm=News&type=news&mod=News&mid=9A02E3B96F2A415ABC72CB5F516B4C10&tier=3&nid=7F22A8DB23414043A278D361FA77A42D

If the EU decides to go ahead with mandatory rice testing, U.S. rice exports to Europe may fizzle.

As the European Commission asks the EU nations to approve its proposal of mandatory testing of all U.S. rice imports, the U.S. says the burden may be too much for rice trade to continue between the U.S. and Europe.

The U.S. has "consulted with the industry and reviewed it internally and came to the conclusion it would just have the effect of not allowing trade to resume," says Floyd Gaibler, U.S. deputy undersecretary for farm and foreign agricultural services.

The proposed testing program would be aimed at making sure rice sent to the EU contains no unauthorized genetically modified varieties. The push for mandatory testing comes in response to the EU discovery of Liberty Link Rice 601, a genetically modified strain of long-grain rice banned in the EU, in a shipment of rice supposed to be free of biotech products.

Since the EU increased monitoring for genetically modified strains, U.S. rice shipments to Europe have halted.

Gaibler says the European testing program would be "simply too onerous for us to accept," but Philip Tod, spokesman for the EU, says the group has "no other option" from mandatory tests after the U.S. and EU failed to agree on a common testing protocol.