The rice war rages on tonight, but right now it's more like a war of words. The Chamber of Commerce today blasted Jack Charles for alleging aflatoxin contamination in a press release, which says, quote: "Issuing such an inflammatory report on the rice industry is irresponsible and clearly intended to force an opening for rice importation."
The Chamber adds, quote, "the tests…carried out on Belizean rice samples found aflatoxins to be well within (safe) limits and therefore safe for consumption."
And here's where they wound up on Charles, saying, quote: "These accusations are clearly without merit, and obviously meant to cause consumer panic without any care for potential damage to the Belizean economy, the reputation of the rice industry or BAHA's institutional reputation…Belizean producers who contribute to our economy should not find themselves disparaged by spurious allegations made purely for competitive gain." Now, we should note that the rice producers are leading members of the Chamber.
But Jack Charles sent his own release today - where he asked about that same institutional reputation of BAHA. He says that BAHA should provide the public with the results of testing on food products over the last five years.
And he also invites the "NGO Community and other Civil Society Groups who would like to send any produce samples for testing that we would be willing to sponsor the cost to do the analysis.
As for the tests which he already did which show less than two micrograms of afla toxins per kilogram of rice, Charles is undeterred by all the backlash from the Burea of Standards, the PUP and the Chamber of Commerce. He warns, "Even if the levels are low, each Belizean consumes approximately 10 pounds of rice per month, so the chronic exposure and bioaccumulation of the toxin at the end of the year can be harmful."
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