Feds Don't Know How (genetically engineered) Rice Escaped

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/10/05/ap4193191.html

ST. LOUIS -

Federal regulators could not determine how an experimental strain of biotech rice ended up in the commercial food supply, but an investigation suggests it escaped from a university research laboratory.

A yearlong U.S. Department of Agriculture investigation found that the genetically engineered rice, which was not approved for human consumption, was grown at a corporate-funded laboratory at Louisiana State University alongside commercial strains of rice that were eventually contaminated in the food supply, according to a report released Friday.

It was difficult to determine exactly how the rice escaped in part because researchers sponsored by Bayer (nyse: BAY - news - people ) CropScience AG did not keep documents like maps or cleaning records, said Cindy Smith, administrator of the Agriculture Department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service that regulates biotech crop testing.

"One of the fundamental challenges for us is that we were trying to go back in history and recreate what was happening in field tests in 1999, 2000 and 2001," Smith said. Researchers at Louisiana State did not violate the inspection service's policies by not keeping the records, but the agency is now considering a proposal to strengthen its documentation requirements, she said.

Tests in 2006 found that Bayer CropScience's strain of Liberty Link rice made its way into grain elevators in Arkansas and Missouri. European countries restricted imports of U.S. long grain rice after the discovery because Liberty Link had not been approved by regulators.

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that no one can explain, either.

She was supposed to be a thing of beauty! Not this abomination!

Ok, I'm done. But don't tell me that wasn't your first thought after seeing this headline.

our food supply is under all sorts of assaults.

No way to run a country.

Exactly how bio-engineered is it??

Was it a planned escape or did it just take advantage of an open door? How far did it have to travel to meet up with the other rice? Should the folks in Louisiana be concerned about roving gangs of rice planning home invasions?

It was removed from the lab - inadvertently or on purpose. It didn't ESCAPE.

cripes.

I was picturing a Condi-mechagodzilla beast