Home : In the Market : Rice
Am I eating GE rice?
What traits have been genetically engineered into crops?
Which foods have been genetically engineered?
What are the health, environmental, and social issues associated with genetic engineering?
How is genetic engineering regulated in the United States?
Media coverage and public opinion of genetic engineering
Printable fact sheets, helpful links, site index, and more
About the creators of the GEO-PIE Project
  
Although one variety of GE rice has been partially approved for marketing in the US, it has never been grown commercially. High vitamin A "Golden Rice" will not be marketed for several years.

A combine harvests rice.
Read more about GE herbicide resistance.  

Am I eating genetically engineered rice?

No. Herbicide-resistant GE rice was cleared for commercial production in 1999 and given FDA approval in 2000. Because the EPA has not approved the new use of herbicide on this crop, its developer, Aventis CropScience, has not yet marketed seeds to growers. This GE rice made headlines in 1999 when Brazilian regulators ruled that test plots of the variety in Brasilia did not comply with local biosafety rules, and ordered the plants to be burned.

"Golden Rice," a GE variety of rice developed to produce higher levels of vitamin A in its grain, is not on the market-- despite a great deal of coverage in the media. Its developers have not sought regulatory approval, and in all likelihood will not have a marketable variety for several years.
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