Brussels, 22/08/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday a spokesperson indicated that on Wednesday the European Commission was expected to announce measures to protect European consumers against non-authorised genetically modified rice from the US, traces of which have been found in conventional American long grain rice. Last Friday evening, US Secretary for Agriculture, Mile Johanns informed the Commission of non-authorised genetically modified rice traces being detected in long grain rice samples marketed in the US but indicated that according to information available there was no threat to health or the environment. The Commission will strive to ensure that European consumers are not contaminated by non-authorised GM rice, explained the spokesperson, who also stated that the Commission would decide on measures to be taken depending on what additional information it obtained during meetings with representatives from the US government and the Bayer company. This company produced experimental GM rice, “LLRICE601,” between 1998 and 2001, explained a press release from the organisation Friends of the Earth, which considers that the EU should follow the example of Japan, which suspended US rice imports on Saturday (it explained that the EU imported around €70 million worth of rice from the US a year). Adrian Bebb spokesperson for the environmental NGO declared, “This is a complete scandal. The biotech industry has failed once again to control its experiments”. The press release highlights the fact that last March Syngenta admitted having sold “experimental and illegal” genetically modified maize from the US for four years to farmers and that the Commission had adopted emergency measures, which are still in place, to prevent its importation into the EU.