Environmental group Greenpeace has questioned the lack of transparency of the Department of Agriculture (DA) in its genetically modified organism (GMO) assessment process, following the assurances made by the agency that GMO rice from the United States has the seal of approval from the international food safety agencies.

Greenpeace Southeast Asia Sustainable Agriculture campaigner Daniel Ocampo said that contrary to the claims of the DA, the GMO rice LL601 has not been approved anywhere in the world outside the United States.

He cited that there have been no findings of safety of the GMO rice LL601 by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA), and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).

"And for the DA’s own GMO regulators to claim the opposite is completely unbelievable. We are convinced this puts into question the DA’s credibility, their honesty and integrity, with regard to GMO assessments," Ocampo said.

The group also questioned the "lateral flow" or "lateral strip" method of testing, which the DA said it used to test rice samples from supermarkets, and for the 44,000 metric ton shipment of US rice that arrived in the country last February 20.

"Using the lateral flow or strip test to determine GMO content is not an acceptable protocol for detecting LL601 or LL62 GMO rice under both the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and European Union standards," Ocampo said.

Since late February 2008, Greenpeace has been challenging the DA to conduct a joint sampling of the National Food Authority’s US rice shipment using stringent European protocols to verify whether the US rice is indeed free of GMOs.