June 8, 2004
Business Daily Update via
AgbioView
Leading Chinese biotechnology scientists last spring began
lobbying the central government to allow the commercialization
of genetically modified (GM) rice varieties. Although their
efforts have not resulted in positive results, experts suggest
their campaign could eventually result in the development of
China's plant biotechnologies. "Our GM rice technologies are
technically mature and ready to commercialize. What's lacking is
the leadership's bold decision," said Zhu Zhen, a leading rice
scientist and deputy director of the Bureau of Life Science and
Biotechnology under the
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
A group of leading Chinese biotechnology scientists recently
released a report urging the central government to allow, as
soon as possible, the commercial planting of GM rice. Late last
month, an official with the GMO Safety Office, under the
Ministry of Agriculture, said the government had not made a
decision on the GM rice issue. No country has approved the
commercialization of GM rice. Some GM crops -- including
soybean, cotton, corn and tobacco -- have been commercialized in
some nations. Soybean crops account for 61 per cent of the GM
crops harvested annually. Chinese researchers, in recent years,
have developed several GM rice varieties resistant to China's
major rice pests. The varieties include strains that can resist
stem borer, by using Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), delta
endotoxin and cowpea trypsin inhibitor CpTI genes; protease
inhibitor rice; planthopper and bacterial leaf blight, by using
the rice plant disease resistance Xa21 gene; and
fungal-resistant rice.
China has the largest field for GM
rice trials, and the country's plantation technologies and
management of GM rice surpass those of Monsanto, the US-based
biotechnology giant, and Germany-based Bayer, said Wang Feng, a
biotechnology scientist with Fujian Academy of Agricultural
Sciences. He chairs China's largest GM rice field-trial site.
Yet, the Chinese Government, facing increasing international
pressure, adopted a cautious policy in 1999. Chinese media
eventually stopped reporting on the nation's plant biotechnology
achievements, and many labs involved in the GM rice studies
began shifting their research. "At that time, China was
preparing to join the World Trade Organization (WTO). On the one
hand, the government worried that other countries, especially
those in the European Union (EU), used the GM issue as a pretext
to block China's WTO entry," said Huang Jikun, director of CAS's
Centre for Chinese Agricultural Policy. "On the other hand, the
government hoped to wield GM technologies as a shield to defend
its own fragile agriculture from the effects of foreign grain
exports." The situation is changing. Smoother situation Li Qing,
head of the policy department under the China National Centre
for Biotechnology Development (CNCBD), said the international
community is gradually warming to plant biotechnology. EU
officials, after implementing a strict ban on GM products for
more than a decade, is beginning to adopt a more flexible
attitude towards plant biotechnologies.
"The changing political environment has prompted the Chinese
scientists to push GM rice," Li said. The Chinese Government
last year substantially increased funding for GM rice research.
An Daochang, CNCBD's deputy director, estimates one-third of the
money is being spent on GM technologies. Zhu estimates between
25-30 per cent of China's plant biotechnology investments are
spent on GM rice programmes. The Chinese Government has become
the world's second-largest spender on plant biotechnologies. The
United States is first. China in the past two years has advanced
preparatory work to commercialize GM rice. China is expected to
launch at least 10 GM rice field trials between 2001 and 2005
with the aim of proceeding towards commercialization, Guo
Longbiao, a leading rice scientist with Hangzhou-based China
National Rice Research Institute, said.
The EU's more flexible attitude towards plant biotechnologies is
the result of the bloc's failure to keep up with scientific
developments, Zhu said. The United States and some European
countries in the 1980s developed different varieties of GM
soybean and wheat. But, given Europe's stricter restrictions, EU
scientists are still researching GM wheat. Meanwhile, US-based
GM soybean has conquered the world market. "If a technology is
not commercialized, it will never achieve significant progress.
I hope China will not miss the opportunity," Zhu said. Other
factors may prompt authorities to change their opinions on GM
rice. Policy-makers, due to declining grain output over the past
five years, have worried about food supplies, Huang said. Many
farmers, given the high costs of fertilizers and pesticides used
on grain crops, decided either to give up their land or turn to
cash crops. China's grain output last year reached 430.7 million
tons, down 81.6 million tons from 1998.
The country's per capita grain output last year fell to 333
kilograms from 411 kilograms in 1998. In particular, the
production of rice -- which feeds 90 per cent of China's
1.3-billion-plus residents -- has decreased from 200 million
tons in 1999 to 168 million tons last year, indicates a report
published recently by the International Service for the
Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications. The shortage of rice
triggered a 27-per-cent rise in rice prices in China in the
year's first quarter, indicate Ministry of Agriculture
statistics. Meanwhile, international rice prices rose only 9.1
per cent. Mass production of GM rice varieties that are
resistant to pests may alleviate the problem, Huang said. (US $
22.90), annually, per hectare planted.
For example, if China commercialized GM rice in 2002, the
technology might have saved the nation US $ 4.2 billion in 2010,
Huang estimated. Scott Rozelle, an agricultural economist with
the University of California, Davis, said GM rice, if widely
used, would have an even greater impact, compared with GM
cotton, on China's agriculture sector. Rozelle has for years
researched China's agricultural biotechnology. He works for the
Chinese Government on several agricultural consulting
programmes. GM cotton has become a "miracle crop" in China since
it was commercialized in 1996. More than half of China's cotton
is genetically modified. One reason for the success of GM cotton
is the crop has helped farmers cut production costs, by an
average 30 per cent, GM advocates suggest.
Also, the crops reduced farmers' exposure to chemicals such as
pesticides and fertilizers. Huang suggested failed efforts,
including strict safety regulations, to prevent imports of GM
soybean should make decision-makers understand such moves will
not help Chinese farmers cope with the effects of foreign
imports. China, in June 2001, adopted a safety certificate
system, which required importers of GM crops to have safety
certificates, issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, for the
products. China, however, did not issue the certificates between
2001-03. Temporary certificates were issued to allow importation
of GM crops, which were mainly soybean. China's delay in issuing
safety certificates did not prevent a flood of GM crops from
entering the country. China has been the world's largest
importer of GM soybean in the past three years. The country
imported 20.74 million tons of soybean, worth US $ 4.8 billion,
last year. That was up 82 per cent over the previous year. More
than 90 per cent of the soybean crops imported by China have
been genetically modified. In late February, China's Ministry of
Agriculture issued safety certificates that allowed the
importations of five GM varieties -- one strain of soybean, two
strains of corn and two varieties of cotton. All are produced by
US-based Monsanto. Growing opposition Since the late 1990s,
opponents -- from environmentalists and economists to consumers
-- have become more vocal in their opposition to GM
technologies.
Pang Cheung Sze, an opponent of GM crops with Greenpeace China,
contends China lacks effective and transparent biosafety
management regulations. "Determining whether GM technologies are
good or bad depends on biotechnology scientists, who benefit
from the commercialization of GM crops. An independent, fair
judgment is important," Sze said. "Given the gene flow between
GM plants and related species, cultivation of GM rice could
threaten the environment." Several scientists from environmental
and agricultural institutes agree with Sze.
Xue Dayuan, a research fellow at the Nanjing Institute of
Environmental Science, said the Bt gene used to make GM cotton
resistant to insects could cause the pests to evolve into
"super" bugs that are impermeable to most pesticides. Chang
Ruzhen, a scientist specializing in soybean crops with the
Institute of Plant Varieties under the Chinese Academy of
Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), said gene pollution -- such as
that experienced in Mexico, on wild corn varieties, in the late
1990s -- could occur in China if the country plants massive
amounts of GM rice and soybean. "China has the world's oldest
varieties of wild soybean and rice species. If their natural
genes are destroyed by floating genes from GM varieties, it will
be a disaster," Chang said.
Most consumers, meanwhile, are concerned about whether GM crops
will affect people's health. Zhu Yanling, a Shanghai-based
consumer, sued Swiss food giant Nestle late last year. She
alleged the company did not label GM ingredients in some of its
products. The Ministry of Agriculture in 2002 listed 17 products
under five categories of GM plants -- soybean, corn, rapeseed,
cotton seed and tomatoes. The ministry also required those
products be clearly labelled as GM products. Zhu lost the case,
which was decided last April.
Many People still share her
concern. In a consumer survey, commissioned by Greenpeace in
February in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, 87 per cent of
respondents said they wanted food producers to label their GM
products. Forty per cent of respondents said they would purchase
non-GM foods, and 24 per cent said they would choose GM
products. Seventy per cent of respondents said they would lose
confidence in a food brand if they learned its products
contained GM ingredients. Fifty-five per cent of respondents
said they would not buy GM products for their children.
Environmentalists and consumers' groups claimed victory on May
10 after Monsanto announced it would not produce GM wheat, which
had been widely expected to be its next big GM product.
Monsanto's decision was reportedly in response to
environmentalists' escalating opposition to GM crops. The
decision was a major setback for the company, which has
pioneered the genetic development of crops.
Economists have also argued
against the possibility of China developing genetically modified
grain. Xia Youfu, a commerce professor with the University of
International Business and Economics, said China's plant
biotechnologists lack business management experience. China, he
added, does not have large biotechnology firms such as Monsanto.
"So, if China commercializes GM rice technologies, small and new
Chinese biotechnology firms will be easily defeated by Monsanto
or Bayer," Xia said. "The huge Chinese market will be dominated
by these foreign giants." Since 1996, when China commercialized
GM cotton, Monsanto's market share of GM cotton seeds has
expanded. In some provinces, Monsanto accounts for half of the
market. Steady advance Previously, China's biotechnology
scientists never attempted to refute environmentalists' claims
and/or accusations.
Now, they are speaking up -- more forcefully, and more often.
Jia Shirong, a renowned plant biologist with CAAS' Institute of
Biotechnologies, chaired, for more than five years, the tests to
determine the safety of GM crops. The tests were conducted in
the tropical island of Hainan Province. None of the findings --
various tests were conducted -- indicated GM crops would
severely affect the environment, Jia said. "As for gene
floating, it always exists in nature. But it is nothing to be
worried about, because transplanted genes, such as Bt, have
proven harmless to humans and the environment," Jia said. Zhang
Qifa, an academic with CAS and dean of Huazhong University of
Agriculture's School of Biotechnology, agrees with Jia. Zhang
said most genes being transplanted into GM rice -- such as
insect-resistant Bt -- have been transplanted into
commercialized GM plants, such as soybean and cotton, over the
past 20 years. The genes would affect rice much the same way
they have cotton and soybean, Zhang added.
"Most of the world's soybean oil is produced from Bt soybean. It
has been consumed by humans for a decade, without negative side
effects," Zhang said. Zhang has led China's Bt rice research for
10 years. Gerard Barry, a leading scientist with the
Manila-based International Rice Research Institute, said China's
scientists and institutions have a lengthy, fruitful experience
in GM rice research. In addition, scientific studies on the
biosafety aspects -- crops, food and environmental criteria --
of these products have been published in science journals. Yet,
environmental groups still argue the effects of GM crops might
not be felt for several years. "Suggesting people will be harmed
1,000 years later, due to GM food, is like suggesting the earth
will be destroyed by a big disaster after 10 centuries. Neither
assertion is based on science," CAS' Zhu said. Even though there
could be some side effects, people must objectively decide
whether the potential risks outweigh the obvious benefits, Zhu
added. In addition to the economic benefits, GM rice will reduce
the need for dangerous pesticides, which will benefit farmers'
health, Zhu said.
"Rice is produced by farmers, who are concerned about the
productivity of their crops, earning an equitable return on
their investments, and the health and welfare of their families
and land," Barry said. "So, they should have the right to
participate in the decision about whether the country will
develop GM rice." Huang said if China commercializes GM rice,
the benefits would outweigh the possible economic losses
resulting from import bans on China's rice. China exports less
than 1 per cent of its rice. China, in recent months, due to
declining output, has imported more rice from Thailand and Viet
Nam. Zhu said India and some other countries have rapidly
developed GM technologies in recent years. China, he suggested,
runs the risk of losing the opportunity to be a world leader in
biotechnology if it doesn't commercialize its technologically
advantageous GM rice before other nations commercialize their GM
products. China's biotechnologists should not worry about
Monsanto, said Wang Feng with the Fujian Academy of Agricultural
Science. The situation has changed since China commercialized GM
cotton. Then, China had to rely on Monsanto's technologies. Now,
the nation has its own, strong GM rice technology. That means
China's biotechnology firms can compete with large foreign
rivals. "We lack biotechnology giants such as Monsanto. On the
other hand, that is because we have not commercialized many GM
crops," Wang said. "If we do not boldly push ahead with our GM
technologies, we will never have our own Monsanto or Syngenta." |