RT.com, August
21, 2014
In a surprise U-turn, China’s Ministry of Agriculture has decided not to continue with a program which developed genetically-modified rice and corn. Some environmentalists say public concerns about GM crops played a key role in the decision.
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| Reuters / StringerReuters / Stringer |
In a surprise U-turn, China’s Ministry of Agriculture has decided not to continue with a program which developed genetically-modified rice and corn. Some environmentalists say public concerns about GM crops played a key role in the decision.
On August
17, when these permits were up for renewal, the Ministry of Agriculture decided
not to extend them. In 2009, the ministry's Biosafety Committee issued approval
certificates to develop the two crops, rice and corn.
Developed
by the Huazhong Agricultural University, near Wuhan, it was hoped that the GMO
strains would help to reduce pesticide use by 80 percent, while raising yields
by as much as 8 percent, said Huang Jikun, the chief scientist with the Chinese
Academy of Sciences, told Reuters in 2009. It is illegal to sell
genetically-modified rice on the open market in China.
However in
July, GM rice was found on sale in a large supermarket in Wuhan, which is just
across the Yangtze River from the Huazhong Agricultural University, where the
product was developed, which caused a public outcry.
"We
believe that loopholes in assessing and monitoring [GMO] research, as well as
the public concern around safety issues are the most important reasons that the
certifications have not been renewed," Wang Jing, a Greenpeace official
based in Beijing, wrote in an email to ScienceInsider.
According
to the South China Morning Post, state television commissioned tests on five
packets of rice, which were picked at random, and found three contained
genetically-modified rice. It is illegal to sell or commercially grow GM rice
in mainland China. The safety certificates issued in 2009 only allowed the rice
to be planted for research purposes, but never for sale on the open market.
The strain,
which was found, was one of two developed by Dr. Zhang Oifa, who is a professor
at the Huazhong Agricultural University. He said, "it was not
impossible" for the seeds to be put on to the open market.
"You
can't say [the seeds] were leaked on purpose. It's possible the seed companies
have taken away the seeds and reproduced them illegally," he said, as
reported by the South China Morning Post.
However,
Huang Jikun also believes that public opinion was not the only reason why the
project was shelved. He stated that China is reaching self-sufficiency in terms
of rice production, so therefore there was no point in producing genetically
modified versions. China exports very little rice as almost all of it is
consumed within its domestic market. Huang also admitted, "rising public
concerns [about the] safety of GM rice" likely also played a role.
Cong Cao,
who is an associate professor at the University of Nottingham in the UK, was
scathing of the decision. Writing in ‘The Conversation’ journal, he said the
move “signals a major blow to the fight to establish GM food in China.”
Cao
believes there is no logic behind the judgment adding that “Anti-Western
sentiment has been judged more convincing than a raft of studies endorsing the
merits of agro-biotechnology. Government support for GM food is dwindling fast,
and it seems safe to say that the opportunity to commercialize GM rice – and
with it the chance to help address some of China’s most urgent problems – is
all but gone.”
The
production of GM corn has not received as much skepticism, as it is mainly fed
to livestock, according to Huang Jikun. Nevertheless, like rice, it has also
not had its license renewed.
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