Why has genetically modified rice obtained a safety certificate but still not been commercialized?
Recently, at a GMO training seminar, officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and well-known domestic GMO research experts responded to hot issues of public concern such as the safety of GMO foods and regulatory risks. At the meeting, experts called on the Ministry of Agriculture to revise the Regulations on the Safety Administration of Agricultural GMOs as soon as possible, and suggested replacing variety approval with variety registration.
GMO variety evaluation requires five-step approval
At the meeting, Yang Xiaoguang, an expert from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that from 1996 to 2015, humans had been eating GMO foods for nearly 20 years, and not a single biosafety issue had occurred that was scientifically confirmed. In 2012, French professor Seralini published a paper claiming that experiments could lead to the conclusion that GMO corn causes cancer, but that study was completely rejected by the European Food Safety Authority.
According to observations by a Beijing Youth Daily reporter, although the agriculture authorities have stated repeatedly that GMO foods currently approved for market are safe, some members of the public still remain doubtful, worrying that if administrative regulatory capacity is insufficient, this neutral technology could bring potential risks.
In response, a Ministry of Agriculture official emphasized at the meeting on November 7 that China's GMO safety evaluation system is strict, and the evaluation experts are drawn from multiple disciplines such as health, agriculture, quarantine, and environmental protection, with evaluations referring to multiple international and domestic standards. The evaluation procedure for one variety must go through five stages: experimental research, intermediate testing, environmental release, productive testing, and application for a safety certificate. Approval is required starting from the experimental research stage. Regarding the problem of “stealth planting” of GMO crops, the Ministry of Agriculture's attitude is very clear: whenever one is discovered, one is investigated and dealt with.
Expert says regulation and safety are two concepts
Huang Dafang, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, stressed that regulation is necessary, mainly to guard against the risks it may present. But regulation and safety issues are two concepts and must not be confused. “Whether it is safe or not is a scientific question; regulation is a question of law and procedure. Procedural issues will not change the conclusion on safety. If a safety certificate has been issued, that indicates the safety issue has already been resolved.”
Taking the Hunan golden rice incident as an example, in 2012, 25 children in Hunan participated in a trial without knowing and ate golden rice. Huang Dafang said that after the incident was exposed, parents were especially nervous, fearing their children would have problems. But in reality there would be no problem, because the safety evaluation of golden rice had already passed; at that time the trial was mainly in the area of nutrition. The researchers did not comply with the rules, which was a procedural issue.
An industry insider told the reporter that under current circumstances, if GMO crops are planted indiscriminately, the greater impact is in economic and trade aspects, for example, exports would fail to meet the review standards of importing countries, triggering disputes.
GMO variety approval measures have not been issued for many years
Huang Dafang also believes that GMO safety regulation at certain links is currently excessive. For example, for GMO varieties that have been issued safety certificates, according to the regulations, they must still undergo very strict variety approval afterward. But GMO rice and corn both obtained safety certificates many years ago, yet have still not been commercialized and have not reached the stage of variety approval. And the relevant departments have not issued measures related to GMO variety approval for many years. “I think this is not right.”
In his view, the currently implemented regulations on the safety administration of GMOs were formulated in 2001. Fifteen years have passed, and on many issues there is further scientific understanding and more accumulated practice, so certain content that is no longer suitable for development should be revised. “For example, can we align with international practice and use variety recognition, or variety registration, to replace variety approval?”
It is understood that for GMO crops to undergo commercial planting, they must obtain a variety approval certificate, a seed production license, and a business license. At present, only one GMO crop, cotton, has been approved for commercial production in China.
In 2009, China issued two safety certificates for GMO rice and a safety certificate for high-phytase corn. On August 17, 2014, the three certificates expired. In January this year, Huazhong Agricultural University confirmed that the safety certificate renewal was successful. The Ministry of Agriculture responded that this “does not mean the promotion process of China's GMO staple grains will be accelerated.”