Beijing,
China
July 19, 2004
Chinese scientists are calling for stricter regulations on
genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in China, saying the
spread of the GMOs has become so rapid that regulation is
required to minimize any possible risks they may pose to human
health and the environment.
Xue Dayuan is a biologist at the Nanjing Institute of
Environmental Science in Jiangsu Province and chief organizer of
an international symposium on GMO safety that was held in
Beijing on July 10 and 11. He expressed his concern at the
symposium about the lax control of both GMO experiments and the
sale of genetically modified crops.
Although scientists and policy-makers were debating whether
China should introduce a GM labeling system to keep the public
aware only three years ago, it now seems to have been dropped,
Xue said.
"It would not surprise me in the least to hear that everyone
attending this gathering ate something genetically modified in
their lunch today," Xue said at an afternoon session of the
symposium.
When media reports that the central government was considering a
regulation governing GMOs came out three years ago, it still was
a concept the public knew next to nothing about.
Yet, in only three years, GMOs have touched the lives of many.
Beijing homemakers looking for inexpensive cooking oil nowadays
find that they have very few options other than cooking oils
made from genetically modified soybeans or corn. Almost all
major brands, such as Fu Lin Men and Arawana (Jinlongyu),
declare on their labels that they contain GM materials.
The spread of
GM crops and foods has been so rapid in China over the past few
years that concern about their health risks has spilled over
from the academic sphere into the public one.
Some consumers hesitate to buy such products out of perceived
safety concerns.
The international environmental group Greenpeace conducted a
random survey of 600 consumers in major Chinese cities --
including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou -- in
February this year. Some 34 percent of respondents said they
preferred not to eat such foods, and 70 percent said they
believe that some foods contain genetically modified components
that are not identified.
Scientists here, while sounding the alarm, have been carrying
out experiments on a variety of GM crops to assess their
possible effect on, if not risk to, human health, the
environment and the ecology.
Xue said GMO regulation is no longer a question of "should we,"
but one of "how should we."
As early as the late 1980s, Chinese scientists began to carry
out genetic engineering research on almost all major crops. More
and more researchers and funds were involved in this area in the
1990s, when biology came to be regarded by science authorities
as the most promising area for scientific breakthroughs.
Genetically modified organisms had been created in labs even
before the central government worked out rules governing the
research, let alone the commercialization of the findings.
"Basically, researchers could carry out experiments on their own
on almost any plant species they were interested in at that
time," Xue said. "The researchers understood the concern about
GMO risks to human health and the environment, but for many
these risks were not their primary concern. The main factors
governing their conduct, to be frank, were their research ethics
and their own consciences."
In fact, the number of genetically modified plant species
created by Chinese scientists may be much higher than the
general public might expect.
For instance, more than 130 types of foreign wheat genes have
been tried on native wheat genes, wheat being the most widely
grown crop in China. Forty-nine foreign genes have been
successfully inserted into native wheat genes, according to Xiao
Xingguo, a researcher from the Institute of Biology of Beijing Agricultural University.
Xiao said the first genetically modified wheat in the world was
created by Chinese scientists in 1990. Now more than 50 labs
throughout the country are known to be doing research in this
area.
Two GM wheat types have passed provincial-level examination and
five to eight types are expected to go through testing in the
real environment in the next five years, he added.
Rice has been engineered, too. At
least 10 GM rice field trials are expected to be completed
between 2001 and 2005, with commercial application the ultimate
aim, according to Guo Longbiao, a leading scientist with the
National Rice Research Institute in Hangzhou, in east China's
Zhejiang Province.
And with rape seed, the major source of edible oil, particularly
in southern China, at least 70 Chinese institutes are now
experimenting with a variety of foreign genes, with one already
awaiting approval for commercial use.
"Research on GMOs in China has been growing at a speed probably
higher than that in any other area in China," said Han Tianfu,
another researcher from the Agricultural University. "Some of it
has been and is being done without strict regulation or
licensing. That makes risk control a tough job."
GM poplar trees are a case in point. Chinese scientists began to
develop a pest-resistant GM poplar in the early 1990s and
carried out field tests in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region
of northwest China.
Yet a regulatory issue arose, as the licensing of field tests of
GM plants has customarily been conducted by the GMO Safety
Office under the Ministry of Agriculture. But the State Forestry
Bureau is also supposed to have regulatory power in this area,
at least in part.
"If you define the GM plant in the experiment as a crop, you may
have to apply for a permit from the Ministry of Agriculture,"
Xue said. "If you define it as a tree, you may not necessarily
go to this ministry."
The poplar experiment in Xinjiang, he said, has been carried out
without a permit from the Chinese
Ministry of Agriculture, yet the State Forestry Bureau still
has no equivalent system.
"There is urgent need for coordination between the two
government bodies," he said, adding that most of the public
concern has been focused on GM crops rather than GM trees.
Aside from its full-fledged research on GMOs, China remains the
world's largest importer of GM soybeans, accounting for 30
percent of the total trade in the international market. More
than 70 percent of China's imported soybeans are genetically
modified, according to experts attending the conference.
After the GM soybeans entered China, however, efforts to prevent
the imports from contaminating indigenous plants remain lax.
According to Xue, most of the soybeans imported are used to
produce cooking oil at foreign invested refineries in the
coastal areas, where inspection and control may prove beyond the
capability of the small number of officials and experts from the
GMO Safety Office.
Xue voiced his concern that some of the soybeans may have
entered regions other than those of the oil producers, raising
the risk of gene pollution.
Scientists have found that natural plants can be genetically
altered by GM plants by what is known as gene flow or gene
escape. Pollens are an ideal gene carrier.
Wild soybeans, for instance, may have their characteristics
altered if planted together with GM soybeans. In the long run,
the diversity of soybeans may be damaged.
Many scientists attending the Beijing symposium presented the
results of their experiments on gene flow or gene escape.
A field investigation of northeastern China, the largest
soybean-growing region in China, found no trace of GM soybeans
nor any evidence of effects on local soybeans so far.
Another experiment in GM poplars, however, found gene flow
between the GM varieties and the natural ones growing beside
them in Xinjiang.
Similar results were found with GM rice, which has become the
focus of debate recently among scientists, as several GM rice
varieties have been created and are waiting approval for
commercial use.
It is just a matter of time, Xue said, and whether people like
it or not, GM products are here to stay.
(China Daily
July 19, 2004) |