There is a difficult problem in the genetically modified articles in China's first food law; Yuan Longping said that the application of genetic modification should be divided

On February 21st, the National Development and Reform Commission, the State Grain Administration, and other relevant departments jointly drafted and announced the "Food Law (Draft for Soliciting Opinions)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Food Law"), which specified that no unit or individual may arbitrarily Transgenic technology is applied to major grain varieties. After passing, it will be China's first food law.

The two national conferences that have just ended have heated discussions on this article. Yuan Longping, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and “Father of Hybrid Rice,” stated that under the premise of no experimental results, it is prudent to use genetically modified plants for staple food production. “People are not mice.”

Yuan Longping:

Need young people to volunteer

Earlier in an interview with the Yangcheng Evening News, Yuan Longping said that genetically modified technology is of great significance, but careful experimentation is required before deciding whether to implement it.

He said that there are "pro-action" and "opposition" in China. The "opposition" thinks that genetically modified agricultural products have the function of resisting diseases and resisting insects. They come from toxic protein genes. When insects eat, they die. Will they affect human health? The proponents believe that the death of insects is due to stomatal obstruction, which is different from human digestive tract.

And he himself called himself "central faction."

All along, the "central faction" has called on people to voluntarily do experiments. If they eat genetically modified foods for more than two years and do not affect the health of their children and the next generation, they can prove safety. "I'm willing to experiment with myself. The problem is that I don't have fertility."

Yuan Longping stated that the application of genetic modification should also be divided into cases: The technology that he conducted was to transfer the genes of maize to rice and improve the photosynthetic efficiency of rice. Since both are foods, “There is no problem with such genetic transformation.”

New Law: No ban on transgenes

According to the newly drafted "Food Law (Draft for Comment)", the significance of the law is "to promote food production, maintain the order of food circulation, ensure the effective supply of food, maintain the sustainable development of the food industry, and ensure national food security."

A closer look at the provisions, mainly involving the links of grain production, circulation, and consumption, emphasizes the establishment of a provincial responsibility system for food security, the establishment of food bases, the protection of arable land, etc., and has less ink on genetic modification, only Article 12(2) : "Scientific research, testing, production, sales, import and export of genetically modified grain seeds shall comply with relevant state regulations. No unit or individual may use genetically modified technologies on major grain varieties without authorization."

Correspondingly, Article 86 stipulates that any violation of the second paragraph of Article 12 of this Law shall be punished by the departments of agriculture, quality supervision, and grain in accordance with relevant regulations.

Earlier, some media claimed that the "Food Law" explicitly ordered the ban on genetically modified grains. However, an expert who declined to be named told the Yangcheng Evening News that this was a misunderstanding. Judging from the specific provisions, the state only emphasizes management and does not prohibit it. “This law mainly talks about production and circulation. The Central No. 1 document clearly stated that major theoretical and methodological breakthroughs should be made in the control of agricultural biological genes and molecular breeding, and that the direction of genetically modified as an agricultural science and technology should be recognized.”
Vulnerabilities:

Abuse of GM punishment is too light

For genetically modified foods, what is meant by "national regulations" in the food law?

The reporter found that the official website of the Ministry of Agriculture found that the core regulations were only the "Regulations on the Safety Management of Agricultural Genetically Modified Organisms" (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations"), which provided more specific and operational provisions for scientific research, experimentation, production, processing, and management of genetically modified crops. The Regulations specify: “Unauthorized environmental release, production testing” and “Penalization of agricultural genetically modified organisms without authorization for agricultural genetically modified organisms”. The maximum penalty for the former is 50,000 yuan. The latter is 100,000 yuan.

Many experts believe that this is simply "drizzle." Cai Pingya, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, had called for the confiscation of all purchases for companies that deliberately violated regulations for the sale of genetically modified seeds.

In fact, the “GMO Safety Certificate” also only represents the safety of products approved by the Ministry of Agriculture. In an interview with the Yangcheng Evening News, Zheng Fengtian, deputy dean of the School of Agriculture and Rural Development at Renmin University of China, said that because the law did not clearly specify that it was possible to carry out commercial production in the past, “but now it has been rejected.”

According to the “Regulations”, production units and individuals applying for production licenses for genetically modified plant seeds, breeding livestock and poultry, and aquatic fingerlings must, in addition to obtaining a “security certificate,” must also pass a variety certification, plant or breed in a designated area, and Corresponding safety management measures.

Controversy: Hard-to-cut gene "drift"

Questioning of genetically modified staple foods originated from a security certificate published on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture.

On August 17, 2009, the Agriculture Genetically Modified Organism Safety Management Office of the Ministry of Agriculture approved the safety certificates for the “Huahui 1” and “Bt Shanyou 63” genetically modified rice and BVLA430101 genetically modified corn. When rice appeared genetically modified, it caused public opinion at a loss. “Father of Genetically Modified Rice,” Professor Zhang Huali of Huazhong Agricultural University quickly entered a dispute “storm point.”

At that time, some media reported that the GM rice only received a production certificate and did not allow it to be promoted. However, foreign organizations have discovered the phenomenon of planting genetically modified rice in Hubei and Fujian.

“Zhang’s inspired genetically modified rice is now completely out of scope,” said Professor Zheng Fengtian of Renmin University of China.

In addition to human reasons, many experts are also concerned about the natural “drift” of genetically modified organisms—the seeds of experimental transgenic crops floating in nearby farmland, or natural methods such as pollen imparting, causing peripheral crops to “mutate”.

Fog: How many genetically modified foods enter the market?

In theory, the development and production of genetically modified agricultural products should be held in the hands of the competent national authorities from the beginning of each project. The number of genetically modified foods in the market should be crystal clear.

However, the reporter found that things are not so simple. Zheng Fengtian disclosed to the Yangcheng Evening News that the filing in this area is not standardized: “Now many research institutes are arbitrarily engaged in research on genetic staples, and the state does not understand the situation. The development of a genetically modified variety should be reported to the higher authorities for approval. It is not documented above. ”

"Some researchers do not say their own level, but also driven by economic interests, scientific research results are not yet mature, do not meet the requirements, it is anxious to promote, so the market may have flowed out of some genetically modified staple food."

In addition to unauthorized research and development, imports are also a problem. Domestic companies either deliberately or unknowingly import genetically modified seeds from abroad. Li Guoxiang, a researcher at the Institute of Rural Development of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, once said that more than 90% of domestic vegetable seeds are purchased from foreign companies, and many contain genetically modified genes.

At present, the Ministry of Agriculture only publishes the safety certificate for genetically modified crops, and it has not been able to find the commercialized varieties, sales volume, and sales areas. From the safety certificate, tomato, line pepper, sweet pepper, papaya and other vegetables have appeared transgenic varieties.

According to a report by the Yangcheng Evening News reporter, the genetically modified tomato was resistant to transportation and later basically stopped popularizing; and the genetically modified papaya of South China Agricultural University was sold more in Guangdong.
Asked:

Law enforcement investigation results unpublished

In fact, the competent authorities have also noticed the problem of GM crop cultivation.

In 2010, the Ministry of Agriculture carried out a storm of genetically modified national inspections to identify GM varieties that were illegally commercialized. At the end of the year, the Ministry of Agriculture issued Announcement No. 1504 to retired 27 varieties of corn, including Denghai 3686 and Zhongnong University. 236, Zhongnong University No. 4, Iron Institute 124, etc. Some insiders broke the news that the four species are genetically modified.

In 2011, the Ministry of Agriculture combined with other departments to conduct research on the safety of genetically modified organisms, but the results were not announced and the media demanded no results.

Some experts also disclosed to the Yangcheng Evening News that there is no relatively quick and effective method to detect whether a seed of a crop or the crop itself is a genetically modified product, and even if the detection can only be a sampling test.

“The means of detecting transgenes are similar to those for detecting additives. They need to undergo a series of experimental methods such as sampling and laboratory tests. When the results come out, it takes half a month or more, and different transgenic technologies have different detection methods. It is easy to be deceived by these scientific research institutions.” Zheng Fengtian said that the genetically modified provisions of the Food Law still have the problem of “difficulty in landing”.

Outlook - Can the final draft be more "safe"?

In 2004, the motion was proposed. In 2009, it was included in the legislative plan of the State Council in that year. In 2012, an opinion draft was issued. The “Food Law” has been brewing for a full 8 years.

Experts participating in the legislation introduced that the industry initially hoped to draft the "Food Security Law," which is a Dafa. It is not only drafted by the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Grain Administration. It needs more departments to participate in --- but for comments. The draft is basically limited to departmental law, and regulatory power has been discounted.

In public consultation opinions, most people hope to join the norms of major issues such as genetic modification and foreign investment in China's grain market in order to ensure the security of food supply. However, the draft of the draft has little ink on these issues.

"This involves a game of interests and hopes that the final draft will pay more attention to security issues," said an expert who asked to be anonymous.

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