China gives go-ahead for planting of GM rice and maize

(28.11.2009) In a few years, China will begin with the large-scale cultivation of genetically modified (GM) plants. The Committee for Biological Safety in the Chinese Ministry for Agriculture has permitted the cultivation of GM rice and maize, as reported by the Reuters new agency under confirmation by two scientists who participated in the decision process. Both plants were developed by Chinese research teams.

The GM rice exhibits resistance to pests (Bt rice). In field trials a few years ago, it was shown that Bt rice needed significantly less pesticide than is common in current conventional cultivation. However, the Chinese government repeatedly had postponed an approval decision. Fear existed that Bt rice would endanger exports to Europe and to other regions. Time and again, controls on rice products from China found low-level traces of Bt rice in Europe, where it is unapproved.

"With the approval of Bt rice in China, we expect that it now has become greatly easier for other countries to travel a similar path," stated Robert Ziegler, General Director of the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines, to the Reuters agency. The institute is at work on several GM rice lines that primarily are intended for small-scale farmers.

Previously, the Chinese administration had approved the cultivation of a GM maize variety developed by a state-run research institute. As a result of an introduced gene, the maize produces the enzyme phytase, which allows pigs and poultry to utilise the phosphorus content of maize-based feed. Simultaneously, strain on the environment is eased since slurry and stall manure is less burdened with phosphates.

With the approval, the Chinese government emphasises once more that it relies on green gene technology to nourish its population in a self-sufficient manner, despite the increasing scarcity of resources such as land and water. China aims to enhance national grain production by eight per cent annually until 2020. The government has initiated a research programme costing two billion dollars that is intended to provide rice, maize and wheat with new traits through the use of gene technology.

The large-scale cultivation of Bt rice and phytase maize is reckoned to begin in two to three years.