WASHINGTON—Bayer AG won’t face any action from the US government for unintentionally allowing unapproved, genetically engineered rice to contaminate two commercial varieties of the grain, the Department of Agriculture said.

Because of a lack of evidence, government officials were unable to make a determination that could have resulted in penalties against Leverkusen, Germany-based Bayer, said Cindy Smith, administrator for the department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

“The exact mechanism for introduction could not be determined in either instance,” Smith said in a teleconference with reporters. The USDA is considering a number of actions to strengthen its enforcement and investigation capabilities, she said.

MODEL, actress, and television personality Angel Aquino poses for this photo taken during an August 2006 event sponsored by Greenpeace Philippines. Aquino, together with model Amanda Griffin and beauty queen Anna Theresa Licaros, are among the copetitioners in a case disputing government approval of a genetically-modified rice breed created by Bayer CropScience. Recently, its parent company, Bayer AG won’t face any action from the US government for unintentionally allowing unapproved, genetically engineered rice to contaminate two commercial varieties of the grain, the US Department of Agriculture said. --GREENPEACE

The release of genetically modified rice into commercial US supplies has harmed rice exports, especially to the European Union, said Matt Herrick, spokesman for the department’s Foreign Agricultural Service. EU exports fell to 19,931 tons this year through July, down 64 percent from a year earlier, USDA data show.

Russia is the only country that bans US rice, Herrick said.

Bayer, a chemical and pharmaceutical company that is also the world’s seventh-largest seed maker, tested the modified rice in fields from 1998 to 2001, and it tainted the 2005 crop, the USDA said. Bayer found modified rice in storage bins of long-grain rice in Arkansas and Missouri, according to the USDA.

Investigators traced all varieties of rice involved in the contamination to a rice research station in Crowley, Louisiana, operated by Louisiana State University. Incomplete record-keeping and the length of time that had elapsed hindered the probe, which will prompt changes in department policies, Smith said.

The USDA “is considering establishing retention requirements for records,” she said. The department is also considering putting greater isolation distances between commercial seed-breeding fields and genetically engineered crop varieties to reduce the chance of cross-pollination, she said.

Bayer CropScience LP, a US unit of Bayer, is “pleased” with the department’s decision, spokesman Greg Coffey said in an e-mailed statement. He called the investigation “thorough and diligent.”

The lack of record-keeping revealed by the investigation “isn’t going to inspire a lot of confidence” in the government’s ability to prevent contamination, said Margaret Mellon, director of the food and environment program for the Union of Concerned Scientists, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based group skeptical of biotech crops. ---Bloomberg

A native carabao (water buffalo) gave birth to a twin, a male and a female, in a farming village in Nueva Ecija, about 150 kilometers north of Manila. The rare event, according to animal scientists, happens at the chance rate of 0.03 percent based on world record.

Dr. Allan Benedict Bernardo, chairman, counseling and educational department at De La Salle University (DLSU)-Manila, did not expect that a social scientist like him would be elected as an academician to the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST).

AT the flag-raising ceremony at the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) compound in Bicutan, Taguig City, Science Secretary Estrella Alabastro was wearing a tailor-made dress with natural dyes.

WASHINGTON—Bayer AG won’t face any action from the US government for unintentionally allowing unapproved, genetically engineered rice to contaminate two commercial varieties of the grain, the Department of Agriculture said.