Asia University-Academia Sinica No. 1 Purple Rice applies for plant variety rights, GMO doubts remain unresolved

Although Taiwanese society imports genetically modified crops, there has not yet been a successful case of an application to grow GM seedlings in the field. On December 5 of last (2011) year, the plant variety rights application for "Asia University-Academia Sinica No. 1 Purple Rice," developed jointly by Asia University and Academia Sinica, was submitted to the Agriculture and Food Agency for review. Because it involves the use of T-DNA cloning technology, it is regarded as genetically modified seed and is required to be applied for in accordance with the relevant regulations and procedures. Although the research and development team strongly denies that this variety is a GM variety, it has an obligation to provide an explanation; the Council of Agriculture should also clarify this matter and make full preparations.

Genetic modification has always been highly debated. Supporters believe that GM crops can solve the food crisis, increase nutrients and weather tolerance, and create human well-being; opponents believe that the health risks and ecological crises caused by GM violating natural gene linkages will lead to serious loss of control. The government has adopted a cautious and gatekeeping attitude toward the cultivation of GM crops. At present, no GM crop cultivation plan has legally passed a biosafety assessment, but research and development of GM seedlings has never paused; and the GM crops imported from abroad each year and eaten by humans and livestock are countless.

According to reports, Asia University-Academia Sinica No. 1 Purple Rice was bred using mutant rice plants and was already produced in April of last (2010) year. Many teachers and students at Asia University have already tasted it. Fan Tsung-chen, chairman of the Department of Biotechnology at Asia University, told an Apple Daily reporter at the time that this rice is rich in anthocyanins and helps improve antioxidant effects; although the cultivation cost is 10% higher, it is resistant to wind damage and not prone to lodging, with a yield of 8,000 kg per hectare, 30% more than ordinary rice.

Asia University has established a "T-DNA Rice Research Center," which obtains mutant varieties after subjecting rice to T-DNA cloning. When Fan Tsung-chen was interviewed by a reporter from the Taiwan Environmental Information Center e-newsletter, he denied that this variety is GM seed. He said it is a natural mutant produced through tissue culture. The purple rice produced in April last year was grown by borrowing an isolated field at National Chung Hsing University.

Yu Shu-mei, a research fellow at the Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica, said that genetic modification is divided into two types, natural and artificial, and what is generally discussed is genetic modification involving artificial intervention. Although No. 1 Purple Rice used T-DNA for gene cloning technology, no foreign genes were detected, so it should be regarded as a natural gene mutation.

But if foreign genes cannot be detected afterward, is it really completely free of them, or is it undetectable? Hu Kai-kang, associate professor in the Department of Agronomy at National Taiwan University, said that if an ordinary crop is improved by GM methods, such as T-DNA cloning technology, it should enter the isolated field process, and the relevant handling and observation must be carried out under the regulations for GM seedling applications, and the results it produces should all be regarded as genetic modification; one should not simply determine this based on the results.

At present, Asia University-Academia Sinica No. 1 Purple Rice has entered the plant variety rights review stage. Huang Shu-ju, section chief of Seedling Management in the Crop Production Section, said that the review committee determined that the GM risk has not been ruled out and that application should be made in accordance with the field trial regulations for gene-cloned plants. In other words, a permit must be applied for to conduct field trials, and after review approval, approval documents from the competent authority must still be obtained before plant variety rights can be granted. However, before Taiwan's policy changes, even if GM seed obtains plant variety rights, it still may not be promoted or sold.

Huang Shu-ju said that Taiwan does not prohibit applications for GM plant variety rights, and the draft regulations governing GM production management have not yet passed.

The Seedling Research Office of National Taiwan University also stated that the unit currently managing GM crops in our country has not yet conducted a biosafety assessment of the purple rice variety, nor has there been approved GM purple rice that may be cultivated. Asia University-Academia Sinica No. 1 Purple Rice has been planted for two years while the GM risk remains unclear, and the risk of genetic contamination should be clarified. (This article is simultaneously published in the Taiwan Environmental Information Center e-newsletter)

Further Reading

The Inheritance and Future of Agriculture: Conserving Seeds Locally, Rejecting Genetic Modification