GM (Genetically Modified) food technology

[ahojunk]

I created this thread for GM technology. I know GM is controversial and will generate differing opinions.
Let the discussion begin but please keep it civil.

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China's technology innovation plan to support GM crops research
2016-08-12 08:48 | Xinhua | Editor: Mo Hong'e

China will allocate more resources to GM crop R&D, according to a five-year plan for science and technology progress published Monday by the State Council.

The plan lists science and technology targets for the 2016-2020 period, as well as the government action needed to achieve the proposed results.

China has identified GM as an important area on many occasions, ordering research and supervision to be improved, the development of a GM food evaluation system and the industrialization of certain GM food crops.

A GM research project, approved by the State Council in 2008, explored the creation of new GM varieties alongside their application value and proprietary intellectual property rights. The project was part of a wider push to ensure the sustainable development of China's agriculture.

"Since 2008, China has built a GM technology system," according to an official with the Ministry of Agriculture. "The system covers gene cloning, genetic transformation, new variety breeding and safety evaluation."

The new plan, with its emphasis on innovation, advantages of hybrids and breeding by molecular design, will help elevate GM research to the next level.

"Innovation is extremely important in the industry," said Zhang Shihuang, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

Agricultural experts had predicted, for example, that the industrialization of genetically modified corn would be realized in the next five years, but a suitable breed has yet to be identified. Zhang attributes this to a lack of innovation.

SAFETY SHOULD BE PRIORITY

GM remains shrouded in controversy due to safety concerns. The new plan reveals that China is taking a prudent attitude toward the research and application of GM crops. Safety, however, has always been, and will always be, put first.

China has a sound safety evaluation system for genetically modified crops, according to Guo Anping, a member of the country's GM crop bio-safety committee and vice president of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences.

"China's safety evaluation system on genetically modified crops is the world's strictest in terms of technical standards and procedures," said Wu Kongming, from the Chinese Academy of Engineering and also a member of China's GM crop bio-safety committee.

Compared to China's regulation on GM crops over the past five years, which places emphasis on improving the GM organism cultivation and safety evaluation systems, the new plan proposes that a standardized bio-safety evaluation technical system should be established over the following five years to ensure the safety of GM products.

The safety management of GM organisms must be improved to avoid any risks to people, micro-organisms, animals and plants as well as the environment, Guo said.

From field experiments to application, every procedure concerning GM organisms requires a rigid evaluation and approval process, he continued.

Experts said China should focus on GM research of fields that can solve agriculture problems, such as insect resistance, water scarcity as well as high yield and high quality.

For GM crops, China currently only allows insect-resistant cotton and antiviral papaya for commercial purposes to be planted.

For instance, China has cultivated 147 species of GM insect-resistant cotton, which has helped reduce pesticide consumption by 400,000 tonnes, saving 45 billion yuan (6.78 billion U.S. dollars).

China has released a GM crop roadmap, giving priority to the development of non-edible cash crops, according to official Liao Xiyuan, with the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), in April.

Next in line comes indirectly edible and then edible crops, reflecting China's prudent attitude to GM crops, said Liao.

CALL FOR SUPPORT, SUPERVISION

Although China has made discoveries, especially with regards to GM technology, it still has a way to go in the industrialization of GM products.

A total of 28 countries around the world have planted GM crops. China was the sixth largest GM crop grower in 2015, following the United States, Brazil, Argentina, India and Canada, according to a study by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA).

GM researchers say the new plan is inspiring but it lacks a general framework, and detailed policies and actions are needed to ensure implementation.

Agriculture officials say they hope the plan will improve GM crop safety. Severe punishment will be given for any unauthorized GM crop sales, planting and field trials, according to Liao.

 

[ahojunk]

MOA to propose GM food safety law
By Yang Sheng
Source: Global Times, Last Updated: 2016/8/26 6:38:20

Experts question official claim that current safety, labeling laws are enough

China's agricultural authority promised Thursday to advise the country's legislature to formulate a law on GM (genetically modified) food safety at a later date, restating that GM food on the Chinese market is as safe as non-GM food.

In response to proposed legislation on GM food safety, the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) said on its website that regulations issued by the State Council in 2001 and the revised Food Safety Law of 2015 already provide a legal basis for GM food production and management.

The MOA said it would propose legislation on GM food safety to China's lawmaking body "at a proper time," when further regulation needs arise.

The MOA stressed that GM food safety standards are scientific and strict, so GM products produced under China's system of safety evaluation and supervision are as safe as traditional non-GM products.

However, some experts questioned the MOA's assertions about existing regulations and laws related to GM products.

Xia Youfu, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics and an expert on trade in GM products, told the Global Times that although the MOA is responsible for supervising GM food safety, it should not act as a "referee" and "player" at the same time.

"The MOA, which has a duty to study and popularize GM agricultural products, has cooperated with many giant GM food producers such as Monsanto. How can it also play a role in law enforcement on GM food safety?" Xia said.

He argued that it is therefore necessary to formulate a law authorizing other governmental bodies to supervise food safety.

Lu Baorong, a biology professor at Fudan University, told the Global Times that the current regulations and laws have yet to clarify the threshold value of transgenic components at which food products are classified as GM.

Although current regulations on genetically modified organism (GMO) labeling stipulate that all products containing GMOs should be labeled as GM, many products that mix GMOs to one degree or another may not follow the regulation.

If a GMO content threshold is set, below which GM foods will not be labeled, labeling rules will be observed more strictly, Lu said.

The safety of GM foods has been a subject of broad public debate in China since 2013, when GM food opponent and former China Central Television host Cui Yongyuan had an online spat with Fang Zhouzi, a science writer and advocate of GM food. Many citizens sided with Cui, questioning the safety of GM foods.

The Legal Weekly reported in September 2014 that 71 lawyers in China had sued companies over poor GMO labeling of cooking oil.

 

[Reashot Xigwin]

Ah finally a person that haven't been taken in by anti-gmo propaganda. Like it or not though GMO is the future of farming. That's my 2 cents. Peace out.

 

[ahojunk]

U.S. Approval of Syngenta Deal Brings GMO Food a Step Closer to China
Charlie Campbell / Beijing @charliecamp6ell
Aug. 23, 2016

A sack of Syngenta AG bean seeds on a farmer's field near Johannesburg on Feb. 4, 2016

But a raft of food-safety scandals has made the Chinese public extremely wary of genetically modified crops

On Monday, China National Chemical Corp. (ChemChina) received approval from U.S. national-security officials for its $43 billion takeover of Swiss agrochemical company Syngenta AG. Although the deal still needs to be reviewed by antitrust regulators worldwide, getting the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) the green light was seen as the final hurdle for what looks like the biggest Chinese overseas acquisition of all time. Syngenta shares jumped 10% upon the news. “The proposed transaction is expected to close by the end of the year,” read a statement by the Basel-based firm, which has 28,000 employees in over 90 countries.

The deal has been controversial in the U.S. for national-security implications. “The fact that a [Chinese] state-owned enterprise may have yet another stake in U.S. agriculture is alarming,” said Iowa Senator Charles Grassley. But the deal has arguably been more controversial in China: Syngenta has pioneered the manufacture of genetically modified (GMO) crops, and ChemChina’s interest is seen as spurred by the Beijing government eyeing Syngenta’s valuable GMO-seed patents. However, the Chinese public remains vehemently against GMO. A recent survey in the state-backed China Daily revealed 84% of respondents consider GMO unsafe. It remains illegal for locally grown food.

The Chinese government has launched a massive propaganda offensive to change this. On paper, it is easy to see why: GMO could solve many of Chinese agricultural problems, especially in the arid, freezing north. Chinese farmers are generally poorly trained and work tiny, family plots, overusing fertilizers and pesticides to the point in which land is degraded and water supplies contaminated. In 2007, farmers in southern China’s Guangdong province spread 310 kg of fertilizer per acre, according to the World Bank — six times that was used in the U.S. Experts believe 60%-70% was wasted and ended up polluting water supplies. Despite education programs encouraging farmers to use fewer chemicals, today four out of five underground wells in China produce water unfit even for bathing. As such, the lure of innately high-yield and pest-resistant GMO crops isn’t going away.

China began heavily investing in GMO technology in the 1980s, and has around 10,000 state-employed scientists working on the topic today. At Beijing’s Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, dozens of white coats crowd over petri dishes, seeking to isolate and extract genes that can make crops frost-resistant or thrive on less rain. “Traditional farming has many limitations in China,” says Professor Huang Dafang, who has spent three decades developing GMO. “And climate change has really impeded the development of agriculture in recent years.”

Yet the Chinese public still equates GMO with previous food-safety scares. In recent years, consumers have faced abominations such as cadmium-laced rice, fake eggs and infant formula tainted with the toxic chemical melamine — a scandal that killed six babies and left 300,000 ill. As such, the Chinese Communist Party lacks the necessary social capital to persuade its citizens that GMO is benign. Allegations by the environmental group Greenpeace that GMO crops had been illegally planted in the country’s northeast have further agitated a public wary of stealthy tampering with their food. “The scale of [GMO] contamination is truly shocking,” said Li Yifang, head of Food and Agriculture Campaign.

In many ways, though, GMO has already arrived to China: a large percentage of the soya beans imported are genetically modified, while the vast majority of locally grown cotton — employing more than 6.6 million farmers — is also GMO. But that has not swayed the public. On July 17, Huang was harangued at a public forum on GMO by protesters calling him a “traitor.” It was not the first time. Public figures, like former China Central Television anchor and political adviser Cui Yongyuan, continue to rile against GMO in blog posts. Last week, a Beijing court agreed to hear a lawsuit filed by parents about the alleged use of GMO oil at a school canteen. And reaction to the U.S. regulatory thumbs up did not hint at a softening of stances. “This is an obituary for the Chinese nation,” posted one user to China’s Twitter-like microblog Weibo.

For the Chinese government, CFIUS approval may not be the final hurdle after all.

— With reporting by Zhang Chi and Yang Siqi / Beijing

 

[Götterdämmerung]

GM crops should be safe. People against GM crops are fat people from the west who is under educated and eat too much. They are snobs and believe their opinion is the truth. They can go buy what they want but most people on earth do not have this luxury.

GM crops will yield more per hectare, can grow in colder dryer regions. I'm all for it. That doesn't mean that organic farming is dead. This GM is another option for Chinese people. I'm glad China is doing the research and not foreign multinational like Monsanto

This is BS, we have much less fat people in GMO free Europe, particularly countries such as France and Italy or Spain who are very picky with their food. It's particularly the US where GMO food is part of everyday life, that life expectancy is shorter than the EU and health cost is multiple times ours and the size of many people there is just absolutely unimaginable here.

Any Chinese politician and scientist who favours to lift GMO food ban should be tried for treason and genocide.

 

[Economic superpower]

Only fools think GM is good.

I have eaten GM food and non-GM food side by side and the difference in quality is massive.

GM food is absolute filth.

 

[Jlaw]

This is BS, we have much less fat people in GMO free Europe, particularly countries such as France and Italy or Spain who are very picky with their food. It's particularly the US where GMO food is part of everyday life, that life expectancy is shorter than the EU and health cost is multiple times ours and the size of many people there is just absolutely unimaginable here.

Any Chinese politician and scientist who favours to lift GMO food ban should be tried for treason and genocide.

you may be right. but America obesity is more to do than just GMO alone.

Only fools think GM is good.

I have eaten GM food and non-GM food side by side and the difference in quality is massive.

GM food is absolute filth.

You mean GM food like broccolini? I heard that is disgusting and Pluot? part plum part apricot....disgusting.

 

[Götterdämmerung]

you may be right. but America obesity is more to do than just GMO alone.

There are always more than one factor that leads to a result.

And bear in mind that all pro-GMO studies have been paid by GMO companies and you may know that many universities are dependent on donations by these companies. Scientists who endanger further research funds such as questioning the harmlessness of GMO food are committing career suicide.

Read this article and see how deep these criminal companies have their hands in practically all parts of US and to a large extend also European societies.

https://www.sott.net/article/326278...f-the-corporate-takeover-of-the-US-government

 

[Mangus Ortus Novem]

There are always more than one factor that leads to a result.

And bear in mind that all pro-GMO studies have been paid by GMO companies and you may know that many universities are dependent on donations by these companies. Scientists who endanger further research funds such as questioning the harmlessness of GMO food are committing career suicide.

Read this article and see how deep these criminal companies have their hands in practically all parts of US and to a large extend also European societies.

https://www.sott.net/article/326278...f-the-corporate-takeover-of-the-US-government

One of the biggest lobby in the US is Agro business that per default includes GMO giants like Monsanto et al.

GMO goes a bit further than killing humans...it destroys the entire ecology related to the modified organism.

Example: A food crop needs its set of support organism from fungi to insects...and these are then related to other organism...like little birds that eat these insects and so on and so on...

Same goes for the subsoil ecology...the relationships between between fungi and bacterias are destoryed along with other micro organisms...

Because GMO crop will be an alien in the original crop specific ecology both above and below the soil.

That is is why there is huge and growing market for Bio/organic GMO free products and produce in Western Europe.

If the EU doesnt betray us once again Europe must remain GMO free. But GMO is here as well.

China must protect its citizens and its deep ecology.

 

[ahojunk]

Maybe China should tighten their enforcement.

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GM corn seeds planted in Xinjiang smuggled from overseas: ministry
2016-09-07 08:45 | Global Times | Editor: Li Yan

The genetically modified (GM) corn seeds illegally planted in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region came from overseas, China's agricultural authorities told the Beijing Times on Tuesday, warning that some of the GM crops might have been released on the market.

The company that planted the GM corn in Atlay prefecture, Xinjiang smuggled the seeds in from other countries, Lin Xiangming, director of GM organism safety and intellectual property at the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), told the Beijing Times on Tuesday.

Local authorities in Atlay prefecture discovered in May that a 133-hectare field had been illegally planted with GM corn seeds and ordered that the crops be uprooted, slapping the company that operated the field with a fine of 10,000 yuan ($1,497).

"Normally [GM seeds] are not allowed to go through customs, but it is difficult to ferret out all of them," Lin said, adding that it would be simpler for Chinese employees of US companies that produce GM seeds to bring the parent plants into China.

"It is also perfectly possible that during the experiment, GM crops may have entered the market," Lin said.

"Besides stealing from foreign companies that make GM products, [commercial growers] can also buy GM products aboveboard in some countries like the US, where certain types of GM products have been marketized," Lu Baorong, a biology professor at Fudan University, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

"The biggest problem is a lack of law," Lu said, noting that under current regulations, companies that illegally plant and sell GM products "will only receive economic punishment at present, which will not prevent them from continuing the business."

The MOA lacks sufficient law enforcement abilities to supervise all GM companies and is only able to take actions against their products, Lin said.

He noted that the ministry is working with other authorities to designate illegal production and sale of GM products as crimes under China's criminal law, so companies could be charged with "engaging in illegal business operations" if the amendment is introduced.

Several cities in Northeast China announced in January that they would crack down on sales of GM corn seeds after news reports disclosed that GM corn was being grown in the region in 2015. Jilin Province has since revoked three companies' seed production licenses, according to previous reports.

 

[ahojunk]

Ministry plans to criminalize GM crop malpractices
2016-09-07 11:11 | Ecns.cn | Editor: Mo Hong'e

(ECNS) -- The Ministry of Agriculture said it is working with some departments to make it a criminal act to cultivate unlicensed genetically modified crops in China.

A research institute in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was found growing GM corn, sparking concerns about a management loophole in a still highly controversial technology in China. The 133-hectare cornfield in the region's Altay prefecture was uprooted.

Lin Xiangming, director of the GM Crop Biosafety and Copyright Office at the ministry, said the Xinjiang research institute used seeds smuggled from abroad to grow the corn commercially.

Lin said it's also possible that some GM crop seeds could leak into the market during test cultivations.

The ministry has a telephone number and a special email that allows the public to report suspicious GM crops.

The ministry also keeps a close eye on several leading companies that are able to grow GM crops, but still lacks enforcement, added Lin.

China has no criminal law dealing with GM issues, so the ministry is working with other departments to bring illicit businesses involved in GM crops under legal jurisdiction to control the spread of malpractice.

Wan Jianmin, vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said the country has issued biosafety certificates to 124 domestically made GM strains, all cotton, and six from abroad.

The ministry urged local authorities to increase supervision of crop seeds, and said that it will also conduct spot checks.

 

[Jlaw]

Ministry plans to criminalize GM crop malpractices
2016-09-07 11:11 | Ecns.cn | Editor: Mo Hong'e

(ECNS) -- The Ministry of Agriculture said it is working with some departments to make it a criminal act to cultivate unlicensed genetically modified crops in China.

A research institute in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was found growing GM corn, sparking concerns about a management loophole in a still highly controversial technology in China. The 133-hectare cornfield in the region's Altay prefecture was uprooted.

Lin Xiangming, director of the GM Crop Biosafety and Copyright Office at the ministry, said the Xinjiang research institute used seeds smuggled from abroad to grow the corn commercially.

Lin said it's also possible that some GM crop seeds could leak into the market during test cultivations.

The ministry has a telephone number and a special email that allows the public to report suspicious GM crops.

The ministry also keeps a close eye on several leading companies that are able to grow GM crops, but still lacks enforcement, added Lin.

China has no criminal law dealing with GM issues, so the ministry is working with other departments to bring illicit businesses involved in GM crops under legal jurisdiction to control the spread of malpractice.

Wan Jianmin, vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said the country has issued biosafety certificates to 124 domestically made GM strains, all cotton, and six from abroad.

The ministry urged local authorities to increase supervision of crop seeds, and said that it will also conduct spot checks.

i think the fine should be more. IF not perhaps jail time

 

[ahojunk]

Experts: Growing illegal GM foods should be punished
By Wu Jin
China.org.cn, September 13, 2016

A consumer chooses oil made from non-genetically modified sunflower seeds in a supermarket in Beijing on Tuesday.
[China Daily]​

Law experts in China expect the government to impose severe penalties on those who grow and sell illegal genetically-modified (GM) foods.

This issue has provoked immense public concern over the country's food security, after cases of illegality were detected in Liaoning and Xinjiang in the first half of this year.

So far, China has only allowed two agricultural products -- cotton and papaw -- to be genetically modified for commercial use, while banning work on any other GM foods outside labs and research centers.

Professor Xiong Yongming, of the Law School of Nanchang University, said, existing administrative laws and regulations, mostly in the form of government circulars, dominating the guidelines on GM foods production and are too general and ineffective.

China started to issue administrative regulations on genetic engineering in 1993, followed by a number of provisions and administrative measures covering the safety of GM foods from both home and abroad.

Although those guidelines acknowledge and underscore the possible damage GM foods can cause to the environment, public health, natural resources and ecological system, they are powerless to severely punish the violators because there are no stringent laws targeting the abuse of genetic technology.

It is possible that GM foods may endanger people's health through slow and gradual processes, but the ramifications are hard to gauge especially when weighing their impending threats to public security, Xiong explained, adding that the attempt to have criminal law dealing with illegal GM foods needs careful deliberation before being put into practice.

However, despite there being insufficient evidence suggesting the insecurity of GM foods, the expansion of such products penetrating the process from seedling to trading may challenge market order, said Liu Changqiu, researcher from the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

It is better to create a new legal provision to control genetic technology, a practice initiated by several European countries, such as, Finland, which has criminal laws covering GM foods, Liu said.

However, Professor Huang Mingru, from the Law School of Xiangtan University, argued that the criminal laws could end up with too many provisions due to having to be amended every time whenever a new problem emerges.

To stop illegal GM foods spreading under present condition, the legal experts suggested that perpetrators should be charged with violating business operational laws -- a provisional countermeasure that could increase the costs of illegal GM production.

 

[Jlaw]

Experts: Growing illegal GM foods should be punished
By Wu Jin
China.org.cn, September 13, 2016

View attachment 333991
A consumer chooses oil made from non-genetically modified sunflower seeds in a supermarket in Beijing on Tuesday.
[China Daily]​

Law experts in China expect the government to impose severe penalties on those who grow and sell illegal genetically-modified (GM) foods.

This issue has provoked immense public concern over the country's food security, after cases of illegality were detected in Liaoning and Xinjiang in the first half of this year.

So far, China has only allowed two agricultural products -- cotton and papaw -- to be genetically modified for commercial use, while banning work on any other GM foods outside labs and research centers.

Professor Xiong Yongming, of the Law School of Nanchang University, said, existing administrative laws and regulations, mostly in the form of government circulars, dominating the guidelines on GM foods production and are too general and ineffective.

China started to issue administrative regulations on genetic engineering in 1993, followed by a number of provisions and administrative measures covering the safety of GM foods from both home and abroad.

Although those guidelines acknowledge and underscore the possible damage GM foods can cause to the environment, public health, natural resources and ecological system, they are powerless to severely punish the violators because there are no stringent laws targeting the abuse of genetic technology.

It is possible that GM foods may endanger people's health through slow and gradual processes, but the ramifications are hard to gauge especially when weighing their impending threats to public security, Xiong explained, adding that the attempt to have criminal law dealing with illegal GM foods needs careful deliberation before being put into practice.

However, despite there being insufficient evidence suggesting the insecurity of GM foods, the expansion of such products penetrating the process from seedling to trading may challenge market order, said Liu Changqiu, researcher from the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

It is better to create a new legal provision to control genetic technology, a practice initiated by several European countries, such as, Finland, which has criminal laws covering GM foods, Liu said.

However, Professor Huang Mingru, from the Law School of Xiangtan University, argued that the criminal laws could end up with too many provisions due to having to be amended every time whenever a new problem emerges.

To stop illegal GM foods spreading under present condition, the legal experts suggested that perpetrators should be charged with violating business operational laws -- a provisional countermeasure that could increase the costs of illegal GM production.

the previous case of fining a Xinjiang company 15,000 USD is too small of a sum. Have to make the fine greater than the revenue generated from the sales of illegal seeds will be more effective

 

[ahojunk]

the previous case of fining a Xinjiang company 15,000 USD is too small of a sum. Have to make the fine greater than the revenue generated from the sales of illegal seeds will be more effective

I agree, US $15,000 is nothing to a company.

Hope they come up with a formula to punish the company severely enough to eliminate this type of behavior.