Biotech Rice Saga Yields Bushel of Questions for Feds; USDA Approval Shortcut Emerges as Issue From: The Washington Post | Date: November 6, 2006| Author: Rick Weiss - Washington Post Staff Writer | Copyright 2006 The Washington Post. This material is published under license from the Washington Post.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post.Copyright information

When the biotech company Bayer CropScience AG requested federal permission in August to market a variety of gene-altered rice, it assured itself a small, unwanted place in history: the first to seek approval for a genetically engineered food that was already -- illegally -- on the market.

Now, as federal regulators consider that belated application, they are finding themselves under scrutiny, too -- from scientists and others who say the 20-year-old system of biotech crop oversig...