October 9, 2003
Future of GM Crops in China Remain Uncertain
The future of genetically modified crops in China remains uncertain. China's biotech industry has burgeoned against a backdrop of increasing global speculation on the health and safety risks involved in planting and consuming genetically modified crops. Aware of these concerns, China's health and environmental regulators have become hesitant to approve many GM crops, especially food crops, for large-scale commercial planting. Part of the concern is whether gene altered crops will be accepted in EU countries where public opposition has persuaded governments to ban genetically modified products.
Since the late 1980's, the Chinese government has emphasized crop biotechnology as one key to feeding its expanding population and improving the competitiveness of its small farms. In 2002, Chinese research institutes reported that scientists had developed 141 types of GM crops, 65 of which were already in field trials, making China's capacity for developing GM crops the largest outside North America.
China has aggressively funded research to develop new GM varieties. Chinese labs are currently developing wheat and potato plants resistant to several bacterial diseases prevalent in domestic fields, and many other GM plants and even animal varieties are in the pipeline. Other crops, such as nutritionally enhanced corn, are also under development.
The Chinese government spent $112 million on crop biotech research in 1999. This amount is nearly ten times the expenditures of India and Brazil, which also have advanced biotechnology industries. Beijing too, plans to quadruple its biotech research budget by 2005. Though small compared with expenditures in the United States, which totalled between $1 billion and $2 billion in 1999, budget projections suggest that China may inch closer to U.S. levels in the coming decade.
So far, Bt cotton remains the most widely cited success in China. In 2001, over 4 million small-scale farmers planted Bt cotton over 1.6 million hectares (up from 100,000 hectares in 1998), and these figures are expected to grow. By 2002, Chinese labs had developed 18 varieties of pest-resistant Bt cotton. Other commercialized varieties - like virus-resistant peppers, color-altered petunias and tomatoes with an extended shelf life - were also commercialized in 1997, but are only planted on small areas.
Though Chinese regulators are concerned about access to export markets in Europe and parts of Asia where consumers shun GM foods, agricultural exports to these markets are small compared with domestic consumption. According to Huang Jikun at the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy, as long as Chinese consumers remain willing to consume them, fear of rejection in export markets is unlikely to stall the commercialization of GM crops.
That could change. Through the Internet, newspapers and television, the Chinese will be increasingly able to access information on biotech crops and the global debate. Already, several newspapers have published articles alerting citizens to potential dangers of GM foods.
