Stop! GMO Rice National Assembly Opens in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture

July 6, 2002
Stop! GMO Rice National Assembly Opens in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture


The Aichi-ken Agricultural Research Center continues development of the herbicide-resistant rice variety "Matsuribare" in cooperation with Monsanto.
Consumer organizations in Aichi Prefecture called for a national assembly to halt development of "Matsuribare" and to prevent the commercialization of this rice variety. On July 6, 2002, about 800 people from all over the country gathered in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture. At the assembly, researchers and journalists opposed to transgenic crops spoke out on the dangers of transgenic foods. The demonstration after the assembly climaxed with the crowd chanting "No transgenic rice!"
On July 8, the 323,097 signatures gathered to protest transgenic research in preparation for this assembly were presented to the governor of Aichi Prefecture and the head of the Aichi-ken Agricultural Research Center.


Shadow of Monsanto Falls Immediately on Prefectures that Call a Halt to　Commercialization of "Matsuribare"

Hiroko Mizuhara, Secretariat, Consumers Union of Japan

The Aichi-ken Agricultural Research Center is located in the sprawling forested hills and the old Aichi Youth Park that make up the Aichi World's Fair site.
At the request of the Assembly Preparatory Committee made to the Aichi-ken Agricultural Research Center, a tour and public meeting were held on July 5. There were about 100 participants who came from as far way as the Kanto region and Kyushu.
The transgenic rice variety "Matsuribare" is being jointly developed by Monsanto and the Aichi-ken Agricultural Research Center. It is hoped that Matsuribare can be used in conjunction with technology from the Aichi-ken Agricultural Research Center to "cultivate rice by broadcasting seeds directly into dry fields" to facilitate the use of Roundup herbicide (glyphosate) to eliminate weeds, a serious problem with dry field cultivation.
The traditional method for rice cultivation in Japan involves transplanting rice seedlings into paddies. Fast growing weeds are kept in check by flooding with water and planting rice seedlings after they have grown a bit. If this method were to be used for large fields, it would be very labor intensive.
The Aichi-ken Agricultural Research Center is trying to popularize a method to broadcast seeds directly onto large, dry fields.
Because Monsanto's Roundup herbicide is not as effective in water, it has little value in paddies.
Both Monsanto and the Aichi-ken Agricultural Research Center agree on their expectations for the transgenic rice variety "Matsuribare" that is resistant to Roundup herbicide.

The public meeting was held in the first floor main conference room of the building and consisted of images from the research. The presentation was followed by a thirty-minute question-and-answer period. To view the transgenic rice variety "Matsuribare" being cultivated in open fields as the last stage of development, we walked up gentle hills as we were being given an explanation.

Reservations of participants about testing methods
The process for the development of transgenic rice for commercialization is as follows.
Closed greenhouse -- semi-closed greenhouse -- isolated field -- open field (application for all the above to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries) -- safety evaluation (application to the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare) -- commercialization.
During open-field testing, evaluation is done on the influence of the transgenic rice on other living organisms, dispersion of pollen, possibility of crossbreeding with similar species, and the characteristics of the variety as a crop.
No application has been made for safety evaluation of the transgenic variety Matsuribare and it is not being cultivated outside of the laboratory.
The Aichi-ken Agricultural Research Center has explained that "currently, we are at the stage of selecting superior individual plants in our research of herbicide-resistant rice" and that "we are at the stage just before commercialization. We won't go immediately to commercialization. Aichi Prefecture has rights as one of the supporters of this project and Monsanto will not claim a monopoly."
There were about 10 to 20 observers accompanying every researcher. The open fields were different than the isolated fields surrounded by netting; they were in a slightly elevated area divided into four square rice paddies where the rice could be touched. The four divisions represented different timings for the application of Roundup herbicide so that the effects could be observed, and the division with no application of herbicide was over-run with grass. Some observers noted that when farmers actually cultivated rice, they would never let the grass grow unchecked.
Of course, since this open field of this transgenic rice has yet to be approved, it had to be harvested before flowers began to bloom.
The assembly and demonstration on July 6 made a large appeal to the people of Nagoya.
Signatures to show support for stopping the research and development of transgenic rice addressed to the governor of Aichi Prefecture and the head of the Aichi-ken Agricultural Research Center were gathered in a short time, just a little over a month, and totaled 323,097.

No Clear Answer for the Question "Will Research Stop?"
On July 8, twenty representatives from the sponsoring organizations visited the Aichi Prefecture Government Offices and presented the more than 320 thousand signatures. The signatures were accepted by Section Chief Hiramitsu of the Agriculture Management Section of the Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishery Division for the Prefecture, and Manager Shioda of the Planning and Information Division of the Aichi-ken Agricultural Research Center.
There was no clear answer to our question, "Will you stop research?" Before this variety can be registered, it must pass environmental and safety evaluations. We were repeatedly told that commercialization would be considered with great discretion.
However, we must never forget that behind the Prefecture stands Monsanto. We are aiming to gather 1 million signatures for the Second Assembly at the end of October. We will continue our plea until development stops.

[ August 18, 2002 | NGO's_infomation ]