I sent my e-mail. I've also e-mailed my natural food store and the companies from which I buy brown rice products.

I received a very nice response (already!) from Lundberg Farms - we often buy their organic brown rice cakes and organic long and short grain brown rice. They directed me to their website, where they are "tracking" and responding to this particular issue. For those of you that are interested in their comments and what they're doing to insure that their products remain GMO-free, here is the link. You can then click on the links under the September date for more information.

http://www.lundberg.com/farming/gmos.shtml

really scary ..........

regarding Organic I had heard that US certification agencies allow GM ? is this true ?

here it most definately is not allowed and because I am not sure I make sure I never buy any Organic stuff that is US cert ......

kozz in OZ

How can they imagine that crops aren't going to cross-pollinate? What hubris.

information or links to what exactly this GM rice would do to humans, which would be negative? Or is it just a huge unknown?

Hi Leslie,

I clicked on the link, but, couldn't see how to add a comment. Can you help me so I can send my "just say no" comments to the US Dept. of Agh!-riculture? And wouldn't you know--I like long grain brown rice better than short grain (altho I do like both)!

Those people are unbelievable--hard to believe they're from planet earth!

Thanks, Leslie.

Carol
http://cantbreathesuspectvcd.com

In this link, http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_2159.cfm it says:

"LL601 was first detected in U.S. rice by an export customer of Arkansas-based Riceland Foods in January 2006. According to Arkansas Secretary of Agriculture Richard Bell, LL601 has been detected in virtually all milled long-grain rice supplies that have been tested. USDA announced the contamination debacle seven months later, on August 18th, when U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns professed ignorance as to how much rice was contaminated, which rice products were involved, or where the contaminated rice was found."
---------------------

But Lundberg said that no-one knows WHERE the Genetically Modified rice had escaped from! Yet, from the above, it seems that this was known since JANUARY OF 2006, to be Arkansas (at least)!

I also wonder why Lundberg wrote a comment making it sound like they (Lundberg) agree with the USDA's "findings" that there are no human health hazards PRESENTLY known, from this FRANKENRICE! (See Lundberg's comments below).

Lundberg also wrote that organic farmers aren't required to do genetic testing, and that they (Lundberg) think it would be "premature" to tell us (the public) what they have found, with their own genetic testing of their long grain rice.

This comes from Lundberg's website, at: http://www.lundberg.com/press/biotech_update.pdf and this includes:

· "Lundberg Family Farms opposes the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on farms and in foods.

· Lundberg Family Farms supports consumers' right to know if a product contains GMO ingredients.

· Testing for GMOs is not a requirement of certified organic farms because of the highly regulated process of tracking and tracing all materials used in the production of organic foods.

· The USDA has not determined the cause of the LLRICE601 contamination and said it plans to conduct an investigation into how the product contaminated rice crops, and whether any violation of federal regulations occurred.

· Lundberg Family Farms has periodically purchased a small amount of long grain rice from growers and suppliers in Texas and Arkansas. We are in communication with each of these growers and suppliers and will report our findings as they become available to us.

· The USDA and FDA last week reported their scientific review of available data that revealed no human health, food safety or environmental concerns are associated with LLRICE601 rice.

· We will post updates on this situation to our website (http://www.lundberg.com), as we receive
them.

First, we learned that we can't trust Horizon organic products (based in Boulder, CO). Organic Valley Farms seems more trustworthy.

Then, I have questions about the "O" organic brand of Safeway...

Is any American brand of long grain brown rice safe?

Carol

RE: Lundberg. I read (in their e-mail which contained links from their website) that they are no longer purchasing rice from the South. They are buying/growing rice exclusively in California where supposedly no GE rice has been found. They identify two of their products that "may" have been produced with the rice in question. However, once they learned of it, they began testing all rice and dumping any that carried the GE strain. I came away feeling that they were truly on board with GMO-free and being an advocate for us...

What it would to do humans is a huge unknown. However, IMO, a rice that is resistant to herbicides, esp one in particular, is NOT a good thing. So I have real problems with letting it out (as has already happened somehow).

Then there's the whole Monsanto thing where Monsanto's GM wheat somehow was found in a neighboring organic field (seeds often travel by air darn it!) and this meant the organic wheat wasn't organic anymore and Monsanto sued them for using their seeds when it seemed obvious it wasn't intentional.

And then there's the whole Iraq thing where they want them to only use the seeds we provide them and then they can't save seeds anymore because these are GM seeds (largely) and are therefore patented and they must buy new seeds every year if they want to use them.

No these are not all related to this GM rice thing, but it's a similar idea. If the rice is approved is Bayer going to sue the rice companies where the rice has been found?

I just don't like it at all.

Rachel

I don't like it either. I wonder how all the GMOs affect our guts, and how many food intolerances are related to GMOs. Some of the most common allergens are highly modified, including wheat, corn, and soy. Rice is the one thing I don't have to worry about eating, so I don't want that taken away from me too!

Between the GE rice and the E. coli spinach from California, I'm glad I'm going to my local farmer's market!

Claire