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Scholars up in arms over transgenic certificates

By Zuo Likun (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-03-11 19:22

More than 120 Chinese scholars have filed a petition to the nation's top legislature, demanding, on the grounds of bio-safety, the revocation of the Agriculture Ministry's certificates on two transgenic rice breeds and more cautious licensing in the future, eastern Hangzhou's Youth Times reported Thursday.

The scholars are "seriously concerned" about the potential perils of transgenic foods, especially on domestic breeds' heredity and consumers' health, which they said would threaten to jeopardize "the national security and its people."

The juggernauts opposed by the petitioners are pest-resistant rice "Huahui No.1" and hybrid rice "Bt Shanyou 63", both granted safety certificates last August by the Agriculture Ministry, a national precedent that scholars feared would open the gates for the commercialization of genetically modified (GM) food.

The ministry all but denied the accusation, saying the certificates were merely a green light on breed safety, rather than a clear signal for GM food marketing, which would require further authorization of a production license and operation license.

However, the 120-strong petition team was not convinced.

Too much uncertainty remains for GM foods, they said. While acknowledging certain merits of biotechnology, they also cited a failed three-year trial on GM cotton as evidence of potential long-term hazards. Besides, they feared that GM food cultivation might irreversibly damage domestic breeds' heredity.

Meanwhile, Professor Tu Jumin, a veteran transgenic researcher with renowned Zhejiang University and maker of the two controversial rice breeds, has a different outlook.

"I spent 15 years on the two breeds. They are extremely resistant to rice borers," said Tu, referring to the destructive insects that eat up rice leaves with their elongated snout-like mouths.

"Such biotechnology greatly reduces pesticide usage and is a highly competitive know-how coveted by international researchers," he added. As for domestic bio-safety, the professor said the problem could be circumvented by limited cultivation at designated fields.

Still, the doomsaying scholars, dominated by humanities professionals, remained vocally opposed to technological novelty. Their petition letter was initiated by an unlikely trio -- a historian, a financial scholar and a former village Party secretary.

Among the signatories was Lv Xinyu, a journalism professor at Shanghai-based Fudan University.

"To be honest, I don't want to argue with transgenic specialists. We think, whether or not the GM food is dangerous, it could be judged by common sense alone," she said.

She added, "We are no longer credulous to so many so-called agricultural specialists."