Church leaders in Manila have asked the Philippine president’s intervention in sales of genetically engineered rice reportedly unsafe for consumption. In separate letters on Feb. 9 and 13, respectively, Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales of Manila and Father Benito Tuazon, head of Manila archdiocese’s ecology desk, urged President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to ban Uncle Sam Texas Long-Grain Rice, variety 9LLRice 601, from supermarkets.