Greenpeace China claimed yesterday that the illegal sale of
genetically modified (GM) rice seed has spread to southern
China.
The group now fears the rice, which is supposed to be planted
only in closely controlled scientific trials, could have spread
across the country.
Ministry of Agriculture officials declined to comment on the
situation yesterday.
Greenpeace's food and agriculture campaign manager Sze Pang
Cheung said samples taken at a wholesale market in Guangzhou,
capital of Guangdong
Province, in April, included GM rice seed that originated from
Hubei
Province, Central China.
German testing company Genescan analyzed the samples from the
Guangzhou's Haizhu market for food and edible oil, and found that
they were genetically modified.
The wholesaler, who shifts about 60 tons of rice a day, also
sells rice to buyers from other Guangdong cities such as Zhongshan
and Shunde, Sze said.
"This shows illegal genetically modified rice in Hubei has
spread out of the province. ... And since it has come to Guangzhou,
it is possible that cities in other provinces have genetically
modified rice in their markets as well," Sze added.
Xue Dayuan, a biosafety researcher with the State Environmental
Protection Administration's Nanjing Institute of Environmental
Sciences, said: "It is irresponsible to sell genetically modified
rice given that it is unclear whether it can lead to health or
environmental problems."
The discovery of GM rice in Guangzhou follows Greenpeace's
mid-April announcement that it had found GM rice seed being sold
and planted in Hubei.
Greenpeace's Sze said it was very likely GM rice seed sold in
Hubei came from Huazhong
Agricultural University in Wuhan, the provincial capital, which
is researching GM rice.
Modified seed was labeled "Kangchong Shanyou 63", exactly the
type that the university has been experimenting with, Sze said.
He added it is also likely that the university has formed a
network for producing and selling the rice seed, probably involving
the Huihua Sannong company, a seed production and sales company
funded by the university in partnership with a Hong Kong firm.
But Wu Zhonghua, an employee of the company, said it is not
selling any seed, let alone GM seed.
Based on its recent investigations, Greenpeace estimates that
23,500 to 29,000 kilograms of GM rice seed were sold in Hubei this
year.
If no steps are taken to combat the problem, GM rice crops could
total 1,566 to 1,933 hectares, producing up to 14,500 tons of GM
rice.
(China Daily June 14, 2005)