The acreage planted to transgenic crops in China has increased sharply since 1998 to reach nearly 3 million hectares by the end of 2003.

Most countries and areas in the world now plant transgenic crops, of which the United States, Argentina, Canada, Brazil and China rank forefront.

According to Luo Yunbo, president of the Food College of the Chinese University of Agricultural Sciences, the main transgenic crops in China are cotton, sweet pepper, tomato and animal microorganism. At present, about 90 percent of the cotton crop is from transgenic plants.

The transgenic crop planting areas mainly locate in East China’s Anhui Province, Beijing, North China’s Hebei Province, central China’s Henan Province, southeast China’s Fujian Province and East China’s Jiangsu Province.

Recently, China has formulated 25 transgenic crop test standards and safety evaluation standards, and 15 more are being formulated. China will also build 42 transgenic crop test institutions. The National Agricultural Transgenic Plants Safety Office was established in 2001, responsible for transgenic food safety.

Copyright © 2003 Xinhua News Agency