Vice Minister of Agriculture Li Jiayang: Commercial Cultivation of GM Crops Is Being Steadily Advanced
From November 16 to 18, during the 17th China Hi-Tech Fair, more than 300 agricultural genomics experts from home and abroad, from over a dozen countries and regions, gathered in Shenzhen for in-depth exchanges. Our country's scientific research level is rapidly approaching the international leading level on the whole.
From November 16 to 18, during the 17th China Hi-Tech Fair, more than 300 agricultural genomics experts from home and abroad, from over a dozen countries and regions, gathered in Shenzhen for in-depth exchanges.
"Our country's scientific research level is rapidly approaching the international leading level on the whole, and in some fields such as agricultural genomics research, it is already at the international forefront." Li Jiayang, Vice Minister of Agriculture of China and President of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said in an exclusive interview with a Yangcheng Evening News reporter after the meeting. Internationally, since GM foods were first introduced to the market in 1996, there has not been a single food safety incident caused by genetic modification, and China also applies a very strict review system to GM crops and is "steadily advancing the commercial cultivation of GM crops." It is understandable that the public has concerns about GM crops; the government needs to strengthen publicity and science popularization, and at the same time establish a traceability system for GM crops to safeguard the public's right to know and right to choose.
A 7 GM crops have "legal status"
"As of now, China has approved safety certificates for the production and application of 7 crop varieties including cotton, rice and corn." Li Jiayang, Vice Minister of Agriculture of China, told a Yangcheng Evening News reporter that in fact, GM foods have long permeated our lives, and the most typical directly eaten agricultural product is papaya.
For a long time, the papaya commonly seen at fruit stalls in the south has not attracted much attention in the "pro-GM versus anti-GM" controversy because of its "GM" status, and public information also cannot precisely determine the proportion of GM among papayas grown in China.
However, a Yangcheng Evening News reporter found by checking the relevant website of the Ministry of Agriculture that the only GM papaya variety currently known to hold a safety certificate is the papaya "Huanong No. 1," bred through transgenic technology by South China Agricultural University. It obtained a safety certificate for production and application in South China in 2010, and that certificate expired on August 31, 2015.
The reporter also found that in the publicly queryable lists of GM safety certificate approvals over the years from the Ministry of Agriculture, the only crop whose certificate is still within its validity period is GM insect-resistant cotton; at the end of 2014, two insect-resistant rice varieties and GM corn, after their previous safety certificates expired, again obtained renewals valid for 5 years.
According to relevant regulations, obtaining a safety certificate does not mean that cultivation can be promoted. GM crops still need to go through steps such as variety approval, obtaining a seed production license and a business license before they can enter the market. In 2009, the Ministry of Agriculture approved safety certificates for two insect-resistant GM rice lines, but to date neither has entered variety approval, and commercial promotion still remains uncertain.
At present, apart from GM insect-resistant cotton and GM papaya, which have already been commercially cultivated on a large scale, China has made no further breakthrough in the approval and commercialization of GM food crops.
Li Jiayang said, "At present, the international community is very cautious about the approval of staple foods. China will follow the steps of 'non-food - indirect food - food' to steadily advance the liberalization of commercial cultivation of GM crops." He pointed out that with the progress of science and technology, the existing management regulations will be revised and adjusted accordingly, but it must be emphasized that every new variety still has to go through the relevant strict review, "In the future, under the premise of having rules, everyone will approve according to the management methods for GM crops, and then put them into production."
B "'Turning pale at the mention of GM' reflects the problem of government credibility"
If the papayas and soybean oil seen everywhere are all GM, is it still safe for us to eat? What exactly has transgenic technology "transferred"? Will it cause cumulative harm to the human body?
"Genetic modification means that, for needs such as increasing yield and resisting pests, selected relevant genes are put into a target variety so as to express more superior traits." Yang Weicai, Director of the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told a Yangcheng Evening News reporter that taking papaya as an example, because it is easily infected with "papaya ringspot virus," it is very difficult to prevent and control this virus if it is not a GM variety.
The reporter learned that the target substances expressed through genetic modification are mainly proteins, that is to say, the newly introduced genes are manifested in the crop's proteins. In other words, as long as this protein is not an allergen or a toxin, it can be digested and absorbed by the human body just like proteins in ordinary food.
"Eating GM food, no problem for 10 years, but is there a problem in 20 years? Is there a problem for future generations? These questions are the layman's talk of people who do not understand science." Li Jiayang said with a smile that food is digested once it enters the digestive tract, and eating GM food will not change human genes, let alone allow genes to be inherited by the next generation. "The people who raise this question are confusing genetic modification with modifying humans. Modifying humans is very difficult and requires research into specialized methods and technologies. If eating could change human genes, then how much pork and beef have we eaten?"
During the interview, a number of agricultural experts stressed to the reporter that currently there is "no obvious evidence" proving that GM food is more harmful to the human body than non-GM food.
In August this year, in a public reply to Proposal No. 4506 of the Third Session of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the Ministry of Agriculture also clearly stated: there is an authoritative conclusion internationally on the safety of GM food, and GM food approved for market is as safe as traditional food.
Li Jiayang believes that some members of the public "turn pale at the mention of GM," which, apart from scientific literacy, also reflects the problem of government credibility. He gave an example: just like taking medicine, in fact very few patients really clearly understand what medicine it is, but when the doctor says it is safe and effective, everyone believes in their expertise. "The United States has done a very good job in the industrialization of GM crops, and this is also related to the public's trust in food safety regulatory authorities."
Yang Weicai further pointed out that the food safety problems frequently exposed in China previously have led to insufficient public trust in the government, and the public's current concerns about GM crops are to a large extent a panic caused by food safety. Therefore, from this perspective, the discussion of GM crops is not a scientific issue, but a social management issue.
C "Establish a strict traceability system"
During the reporter's interview, a number of experts mentioned that trust comes from transparency, that the public's right to know and right to choose regarding GM food must be safeguarded, and that the labeling and tracking supervision of GM food must be handled well.
In fact, in response to consumers' concerns about the safety of GM products, the revised draft of the Seed Law recently voted through by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress explicitly put forward requirements to strengthen tracking supervision of GM varieties and promptly announce relevant information.
According to the newly revised draft Seed Law, illegal acts of producing and operating unapproved GM seeds will be resolutely cracked down on, operational approval for approved crop seeds will be strengthened, and a traceability system will be established to manage them in accordance with laws and regulations.
Li Jiayang said that intentional laws and regulations still need strong functional departments and grassroots personnel to implement, using specific regulatory actions to carry supervision through to the end. "You need to make clear what you plant, which variety it is, which gene modification it has, in what environment it is grown, and whether it meets production standards. If there is no strict traceability system such as variety approval and registration, GM crops may become a purely commercial act, and once put into the consumer market it will be difficult to control and hold accountable."
Some relevant people also suggested that in specific regulatory actions, a regular reporting system for the cultivation of GM varieties and a disclosure system for cultivation and handling could be established, "Only information disclosure can ease public anxiety."
However, in terms of laws requiring that information on GM products must be disclosed, the revised draft of the Seed Law is not the first.
Article 16 of the Provisions on the Administration of Food Labeling issued in 2009 stipulates that food that is GM food or contains legally defined GM raw materials shall be labeled; the Regulations on the Safety Administration of Agricultural GMOs issued in 2001 stipulate that labels for agricultural GMOs shall state the names of the main raw materials containing GM ingredients in the product; Article 69 of the Food Safety Law, which came into force on October 1 this year, also stipulates that the production and operation of GM food shall be conspicuously labeled in accordance with regulations.
"GM labeling does not mean it is unsafe; rather, it gives ordinary people the right to know and the right to choose." According to He Yibing, a division chief of the Department of Science, Technology and Education of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Agriculture is studying the question of whether the GM labeling system needs to be revised. It is reported that unlike other countries, which all adopt quantitative labeling by setting a threshold for GM ingredients, China adopts mandatory qualitative labeling for GM products, which can be said to be the strictest.
According to the first batch of agricultural GMO catalogues subject to labeling management announced by China in 2002, apart from GM papaya, which is not included, those that must be labeled include soybean seeds, corn seeds, cotton seeds, tomato seeds, fresh tomatoes, tomato paste, etc., totaling 5 major categories and 17 kinds.
The reporter found during visits that more than a month after the implementation of the Food Safety Law, taking soybean oil sold on the market as an example, some only noted in small print in the ingredient list that "the processing raw material is GM soybeans," with the "conspicuous label" required by regulations hard to see; in sharp contrast, many cooking oils on the market prominently display "non-GMO" labels as a selling point. In addition, rapeseed, tomatoes, corn and their products, which are relatively common on dining tables, almost never carry GM labels.
A person from a food regulatory department told the reporter that the Food Safety Law has just been revised and issued, and market supervision still has a transitional stage; specifically, how GM food should be labeled, how it should be marked, and what font size should be used still await standardization by implementing rules. There are also critical voices arguing that if consumers cannot know exactly "what was transferred" and "how much was transferred" in GM food, then labeling "whether it is GM" makes such a right to know of no concrete significance for food safety.
D The food security situation calls for the application of GM technology
Despite continuous controversy, as far as GM research alone is concerned, the state has not stopped its support. In 2008, the State Council approved the establishment of the "Major Science and Technology Project for the Breeding of Genetically Modified Organisms," a major national medium- and long-term science and technology project with a planned total investment of more than 20 billion yuan.
It is understood that at present 95% of the domestic GM insect-resistant cotton market uses independently developed technology. Wang Haiyang, a researcher at the Biotechnology Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, told the reporter that in certain areas of GM research, such as insect-resistant cotton, we already have a world-class technical level.
In terms of imports, China has approved the import of GM crops including soybeans, corn and rapeseed, and these crops are limited to processing raw materials and must also obtain China's safety certificate. Yang Weicai, Director of the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that China now imports 60 million to 70 million tons of soybeans each year, while domestically produced soybeans amount to only 15 million tons, "Most of today's soybean oil uses foreign GM soybeans."
Yang Weicai called for China to liberalize GM crops, otherwise corn will also face a situation of being monopolized by foreign countries just like soybeans, "This situation is already very obvious. Now that domestic agricultural product prices are rising, foreign agricultural products gain a cost advantage." He believes that, starting from the goal of feeding China's more than one billion people and safeguarding national food security, biotechnology has brought some positive effects, and genetic modification is the most direct means of reducing costs among them.
From an international perspective, GM crops began to be promoted on a large scale in 1996. The two main categories of genes applied are insect-resistance genes and herbicide-resistance genes, and the four major crops are soybeans, corn, cotton and rapeseed. At present, the United States ranks first in the world in GM research and development, cultivation and consumption. In terms of planting area, China has fallen from 4th place previously to 6th place.
Data show that in 2014, China's total grain output exceeded 600 million tons, but consumption had already reached 640 million tons. The growth rate of China's grain output is slower than the growth rate of grain demand, and the food security situation remains severe.
"The demands of production have already called for opening up the application of GM technology." Wang Haiyang told the reporter that regulatory measures should keep pace with the times and new policies should be formulated according to actual needs. However, he holds an optimistic attitude toward this. "The state's policy on GM crops is clear, and in the application of GM technology it will follow the promotion route of 'non-food - indirect food - food.' Advancing step by step, I think some regions or some varieties can also be piloted first."
"Our country's scientific research level is rapidly approaching the international leading level on the whole, and in some fields such as agricultural genomics research, it is already at the international forefront." Li Jiayang, Vice Minister of Agriculture of China and President of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said in an exclusive interview with a Yangcheng Evening News reporter after the meeting. Internationally, since GM foods were first introduced to the market in 1996, there has not been a single food safety incident caused by genetic modification, and China also applies a very strict review system to GM crops and is "steadily advancing the commercial cultivation of GM crops." It is understandable that the public has concerns about GM crops; the government needs to strengthen publicity and science popularization, and at the same time establish a traceability system for GM crops to safeguard the public's right to know and right to choose.
A 7 GM crops have "legal status"
"As of now, China has approved safety certificates for the production and application of 7 crop varieties including cotton, rice and corn." Li Jiayang, Vice Minister of Agriculture of China, told a Yangcheng Evening News reporter that in fact, GM foods have long permeated our lives, and the most typical directly eaten agricultural product is papaya.
For a long time, the papaya commonly seen at fruit stalls in the south has not attracted much attention in the "pro-GM versus anti-GM" controversy because of its "GM" status, and public information also cannot precisely determine the proportion of GM among papayas grown in China.
However, a Yangcheng Evening News reporter found by checking the relevant website of the Ministry of Agriculture that the only GM papaya variety currently known to hold a safety certificate is the papaya "Huanong No. 1," bred through transgenic technology by South China Agricultural University. It obtained a safety certificate for production and application in South China in 2010, and that certificate expired on August 31, 2015.
The reporter also found that in the publicly queryable lists of GM safety certificate approvals over the years from the Ministry of Agriculture, the only crop whose certificate is still within its validity period is GM insect-resistant cotton; at the end of 2014, two insect-resistant rice varieties and GM corn, after their previous safety certificates expired, again obtained renewals valid for 5 years.
According to relevant regulations, obtaining a safety certificate does not mean that cultivation can be promoted. GM crops still need to go through steps such as variety approval, obtaining a seed production license and a business license before they can enter the market. In 2009, the Ministry of Agriculture approved safety certificates for two insect-resistant GM rice lines, but to date neither has entered variety approval, and commercial promotion still remains uncertain.
At present, apart from GM insect-resistant cotton and GM papaya, which have already been commercially cultivated on a large scale, China has made no further breakthrough in the approval and commercialization of GM food crops.
Li Jiayang said, "At present, the international community is very cautious about the approval of staple foods. China will follow the steps of 'non-food - indirect food - food' to steadily advance the liberalization of commercial cultivation of GM crops." He pointed out that with the progress of science and technology, the existing management regulations will be revised and adjusted accordingly, but it must be emphasized that every new variety still has to go through the relevant strict review, "In the future, under the premise of having rules, everyone will approve according to the management methods for GM crops, and then put them into production."
B "'Turning pale at the mention of GM' reflects the problem of government credibility"
If the papayas and soybean oil seen everywhere are all GM, is it still safe for us to eat? What exactly has transgenic technology "transferred"? Will it cause cumulative harm to the human body?
"Genetic modification means that, for needs such as increasing yield and resisting pests, selected relevant genes are put into a target variety so as to express more superior traits." Yang Weicai, Director of the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told a Yangcheng Evening News reporter that taking papaya as an example, because it is easily infected with "papaya ringspot virus," it is very difficult to prevent and control this virus if it is not a GM variety.
The reporter learned that the target substances expressed through genetic modification are mainly proteins, that is to say, the newly introduced genes are manifested in the crop's proteins. In other words, as long as this protein is not an allergen or a toxin, it can be digested and absorbed by the human body just like proteins in ordinary food.
"Eating GM food, no problem for 10 years, but is there a problem in 20 years? Is there a problem for future generations? These questions are the layman's talk of people who do not understand science." Li Jiayang said with a smile that food is digested once it enters the digestive tract, and eating GM food will not change human genes, let alone allow genes to be inherited by the next generation. "The people who raise this question are confusing genetic modification with modifying humans. Modifying humans is very difficult and requires research into specialized methods and technologies. If eating could change human genes, then how much pork and beef have we eaten?"
During the interview, a number of agricultural experts stressed to the reporter that currently there is "no obvious evidence" proving that GM food is more harmful to the human body than non-GM food.
In August this year, in a public reply to Proposal No. 4506 of the Third Session of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the Ministry of Agriculture also clearly stated: there is an authoritative conclusion internationally on the safety of GM food, and GM food approved for market is as safe as traditional food.
Li Jiayang believes that some members of the public "turn pale at the mention of GM," which, apart from scientific literacy, also reflects the problem of government credibility. He gave an example: just like taking medicine, in fact very few patients really clearly understand what medicine it is, but when the doctor says it is safe and effective, everyone believes in their expertise. "The United States has done a very good job in the industrialization of GM crops, and this is also related to the public's trust in food safety regulatory authorities."
Yang Weicai further pointed out that the food safety problems frequently exposed in China previously have led to insufficient public trust in the government, and the public's current concerns about GM crops are to a large extent a panic caused by food safety. Therefore, from this perspective, the discussion of GM crops is not a scientific issue, but a social management issue.
C "Establish a strict traceability system"
During the reporter's interview, a number of experts mentioned that trust comes from transparency, that the public's right to know and right to choose regarding GM food must be safeguarded, and that the labeling and tracking supervision of GM food must be handled well.
In fact, in response to consumers' concerns about the safety of GM products, the revised draft of the Seed Law recently voted through by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress explicitly put forward requirements to strengthen tracking supervision of GM varieties and promptly announce relevant information.
According to the newly revised draft Seed Law, illegal acts of producing and operating unapproved GM seeds will be resolutely cracked down on, operational approval for approved crop seeds will be strengthened, and a traceability system will be established to manage them in accordance with laws and regulations.
Li Jiayang said that intentional laws and regulations still need strong functional departments and grassroots personnel to implement, using specific regulatory actions to carry supervision through to the end. "You need to make clear what you plant, which variety it is, which gene modification it has, in what environment it is grown, and whether it meets production standards. If there is no strict traceability system such as variety approval and registration, GM crops may become a purely commercial act, and once put into the consumer market it will be difficult to control and hold accountable."
Some relevant people also suggested that in specific regulatory actions, a regular reporting system for the cultivation of GM varieties and a disclosure system for cultivation and handling could be established, "Only information disclosure can ease public anxiety."
However, in terms of laws requiring that information on GM products must be disclosed, the revised draft of the Seed Law is not the first.
Article 16 of the Provisions on the Administration of Food Labeling issued in 2009 stipulates that food that is GM food or contains legally defined GM raw materials shall be labeled; the Regulations on the Safety Administration of Agricultural GMOs issued in 2001 stipulate that labels for agricultural GMOs shall state the names of the main raw materials containing GM ingredients in the product; Article 69 of the Food Safety Law, which came into force on October 1 this year, also stipulates that the production and operation of GM food shall be conspicuously labeled in accordance with regulations.
"GM labeling does not mean it is unsafe; rather, it gives ordinary people the right to know and the right to choose." According to He Yibing, a division chief of the Department of Science, Technology and Education of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Agriculture is studying the question of whether the GM labeling system needs to be revised. It is reported that unlike other countries, which all adopt quantitative labeling by setting a threshold for GM ingredients, China adopts mandatory qualitative labeling for GM products, which can be said to be the strictest.
According to the first batch of agricultural GMO catalogues subject to labeling management announced by China in 2002, apart from GM papaya, which is not included, those that must be labeled include soybean seeds, corn seeds, cotton seeds, tomato seeds, fresh tomatoes, tomato paste, etc., totaling 5 major categories and 17 kinds.
The reporter found during visits that more than a month after the implementation of the Food Safety Law, taking soybean oil sold on the market as an example, some only noted in small print in the ingredient list that "the processing raw material is GM soybeans," with the "conspicuous label" required by regulations hard to see; in sharp contrast, many cooking oils on the market prominently display "non-GMO" labels as a selling point. In addition, rapeseed, tomatoes, corn and their products, which are relatively common on dining tables, almost never carry GM labels.
A person from a food regulatory department told the reporter that the Food Safety Law has just been revised and issued, and market supervision still has a transitional stage; specifically, how GM food should be labeled, how it should be marked, and what font size should be used still await standardization by implementing rules. There are also critical voices arguing that if consumers cannot know exactly "what was transferred" and "how much was transferred" in GM food, then labeling "whether it is GM" makes such a right to know of no concrete significance for food safety.
D The food security situation calls for the application of GM technology
Despite continuous controversy, as far as GM research alone is concerned, the state has not stopped its support. In 2008, the State Council approved the establishment of the "Major Science and Technology Project for the Breeding of Genetically Modified Organisms," a major national medium- and long-term science and technology project with a planned total investment of more than 20 billion yuan.
It is understood that at present 95% of the domestic GM insect-resistant cotton market uses independently developed technology. Wang Haiyang, a researcher at the Biotechnology Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, told the reporter that in certain areas of GM research, such as insect-resistant cotton, we already have a world-class technical level.
In terms of imports, China has approved the import of GM crops including soybeans, corn and rapeseed, and these crops are limited to processing raw materials and must also obtain China's safety certificate. Yang Weicai, Director of the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that China now imports 60 million to 70 million tons of soybeans each year, while domestically produced soybeans amount to only 15 million tons, "Most of today's soybean oil uses foreign GM soybeans."
Yang Weicai called for China to liberalize GM crops, otherwise corn will also face a situation of being monopolized by foreign countries just like soybeans, "This situation is already very obvious. Now that domestic agricultural product prices are rising, foreign agricultural products gain a cost advantage." He believes that, starting from the goal of feeding China's more than one billion people and safeguarding national food security, biotechnology has brought some positive effects, and genetic modification is the most direct means of reducing costs among them.
From an international perspective, GM crops began to be promoted on a large scale in 1996. The two main categories of genes applied are insect-resistance genes and herbicide-resistance genes, and the four major crops are soybeans, corn, cotton and rapeseed. At present, the United States ranks first in the world in GM research and development, cultivation and consumption. In terms of planting area, China has fallen from 4th place previously to 6th place.
Data show that in 2014, China's total grain output exceeded 600 million tons, but consumption had already reached 640 million tons. The growth rate of China's grain output is slower than the growth rate of grain demand, and the food security situation remains severe.
"The demands of production have already called for opening up the application of GM technology." Wang Haiyang told the reporter that regulatory measures should keep pace with the times and new policies should be formulated according to actual needs. However, he holds an optimistic attitude toward this. "The state's policy on GM crops is clear, and in the application of GM technology it will follow the promotion route of 'non-food - indirect food - food.' Advancing step by step, I think some regions or some varieties can also be piloted first."