A non-government organization involved in research and policy advocacy has asked the Department of Agriculture to ban the importation from the United States of rice believed to be contaminated with the unapproved genetically-engineered LibertyLink Rice 601 variety.

The farmers group, Centro Saka, Inc., seeks the ban to protect the local rice farmers and safeguard Filipino consumers from the alleged contaminated and genetically engineered rice variety.

Eugene Quirante, regional liaison officer of Centro Saka, Inc. based in Dumaguete City, said a report from the US Department of Agriculture has declared that the commercial long grain rice variety has been contaminated by the genetically-engineered Liberty Link Rice.

In fact, Quirante said, Japan banned all long-grain rice variety from the US and the European Union are now testing US rice shipment for the genetically-engineered rice variety after traces of the illegal genetically-modified rice have been found in supermarkets in European countries and the United Kingdom. He said LLRice is a long grain rice that containing the protein Liberty Link that allows the crop to withstand herbicide applications.

Quirante said the variety should be banned from entering the Philippines to prevent it from contaminating local crops.

"If the European countries and the United Kingdom were not spared from the contamination, then we are also at risk from possible contamination since the United States has been dumping their rice into our country through the PL 480 grant," he added.*RG

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