Genetically Modified Food Commentary Sparks Controversy, Guo Chenglin Sentenced to One Year
Guo Chenglin may become the first person in China to be convicted for commenting on genetically modified food. On July 14 of this year, the Nanshan District People's Court of Shenzhen sentenced Guo Chenglin to one year in prison for the crime of damaging commercial reputation. Two months later, the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court heard the case on appeal.
Barring any surprises, on October 22, Guo Chenglin will walk out of the Nanshan District Detention Center in Shenzhen and regain his freedom. But what cannot be avoided is that the behemoth of genetically modified food has already entered China and will increasingly intervene in and affect the daily lives of Chinese people. And the debate and tug-of-war surrounding genetically modified food will not come to an end just because Guo Chenglin regains his freedom.
Guo Chenglin, a white-collar worker based in Beijing, may be the first person in China to be convicted for commenting on genetically modified food.
On September 15, 2010, Guo Chenglin, who was then serving as strategy director for a project at Beijing Zanbo Marketing Management Consulting Company, published an article online via his office computer titled "Jinlongyu, a Crocodile That Brings Disaster to the Country and the People," claiming that “70% of the base oil in Jinlongyu blended oil is chemically extracted oil from genetically modified soybeans” and that “eating it will make you unable to bear offspring, it can make our descendants extinct.”
Such wording enraged the producer of Jinlongyu—Nanhai Oils & Grains Industry (Chiwan) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Nanhai Oils & Grains Company”), which reported the matter to Shenzhen police, claiming that its reputation had been damaged as a result and that it had suffered huge economic losses.
On July 14, 2011, the Nanshan District People's Court of Shenzhen issued a first-instance verdict, determining that Guo Chenglin's actions constituted the crime of damaging commercial reputation, sentencing him to one year in prison (the term to be served from October 23, 2010 to October 22, 2011), and imposing a fine of 10,000 yuan.
Even behind bars, Guo Chenglin still insisted that his post “was a personal act for the public good, entirely based on facts,” and filed an appeal after the first-instance verdict. On September 19, the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court heard the case publicly. As of the Time Weekly reporter's deadline, the court had not yet issued a second-instance verdict.
Communication, a Trap?
Guo Chenglin, 32 years old this year, graduated in 2002 from Beijing University of Chemical Technology with a degree in accounting, and subsequently worked at several marketing planning companies.
In August 2010, Beijing Zanbo Marketing Management Consulting Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Zanbo Company”), where Guo Chenglin worked, signed a 1.8 million yuan "Marketing Strategy Consulting Agreement" with Shandong Luhua Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Luhua Group”).
Luhua Group, headquartered in Laiyang City, Yantai, Shandong, has an annual peanut oil production capacity of 900,000 tons and is currently China's largest specialized peanut oil producer. According to its general manager Yu Ziyu, the purpose of Luhua signing the contract with Zanbo was to “bring our company's nut blended oil to market, and subsequently bring our company's peanut oil to market even better.”
In August of that year, Yu Ziyu led Luhua Group's sales director and marketing department head to Zanbo Company for preliminary discussions. According to multiple parties involved, during that day's discussions, Yu Ziyu gave Zanbo an analysis of the industry situation and also introduced its competitor Jinlongyu.
Luhua Group explained that Jinlongyu blended oil is refined from genetically modified soybeans using the chemical extraction method, and the oil contains carcinogenic substances; whereas Luhua Group had originally focused on peanut oil and was now going to produce nut blended oil, so Zanbo Company was asked to enhance the selling points of the nut blended oil.
“Our country is a country with a large population, and solving the problem of feeding 1.3 billion people has always been the top priority.” In March of last year, the person in charge of the Office of Safety Management of Agricultural Genetically Modified Organisms under the Ministry of Agriculture said in response to a reporter's question: “Advancing the research and application of genetically modified technology is a major development strategy aimed at future international competition and industrial division of labor, and is an inevitable requirement and important path for ensuring national food security.”
At present, in China's food market, the most common genetically modified food is genetically modified soybean oil. After genetically modified soybeans entered China, most of them flowed into edible oil processing enterprises with foreign capital backing. Compared with domestic Chinese edible oil processing enterprises that are accustomed to using non-genetically modified soybeans as raw materials, foreign-funded enterprises quickly captured most of the market share by virtue of the advantages of lower prices and higher oil yield of genetically modified soybeans.
As the producer of the Jinlongyu brand, Nanhai Oils & Grains Company has deep backing. Its parent company, Yihai Kerry, is an enterprise invested in China by Singapore's Wilmar International Limited, controlled by the family of Chinese-Malaysian tycoon Robert Kuok. After nearly 20 years of deep cultivation, Yihai Kerry owns well-known domestic brands such as “Jinlongyu,” “Koufu,” and “Hu Jihua,” among which “Jinlongyu” this year won two major honors in succession: “Exclusive Edible Oil Supplier for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games” and “Exclusive Grain and Oil Supplier for the Shenzhen Universiade.”