March 12, 2010

China agriculture official urges more controls before growing biotech crops

Even though a safety certificate for genetically modified (GM) rice was issued in October last year, more controls will be needed before people are allowed to grow such crops in China.

Vice-Minister of Agriculture Wei Chaoan said that safety licences for transgenic food were not the same thing as permits for commercial planting.

"We need regional production experiments that are stricter than for common crops," Wei said. He said transgenic food was a major trend in the nation's agricultural development, but the central government would apply the technology cautiously to ensure it was safe for consumers.

The Ministry of Agriculture issued certificates for two genetically modified rice species and one GM corn species in October, making China the first country to allow the use of such technology in its most important staple foods. The moves sparked debate on the safety and timing of the introduction of GM rice to the market.

Jiang Gaoming, the chief scientist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Botany, expressed his concerns over the safety of GM rice in his blog, calling for an environmental assessment system and solutions to health problems it might cause.

He said that the safety problem was an insurmountable barrier because of uncertainties about three aspects of GM rice: the chain reaction after the biological structure was changed; the potential risks in changing the food chain; and concerns about pollution and unwanted proliferation. Jiang said that in theory GM technology should not enter the food chain in the first place.

Wei said that China still faced "a tightening balance" despite six years of consecutive growth in grain production.