A report on the research of genetically modified crops in China

Introduction: it is found that China spends $100 million annually on biotech crop research According to the first comprehensive assessment report on China's biotechnology conducted by research institutions, China is rapidly taking the lead in the development of genetically modified crops, and the public spending on plant biotechnology research may soon surpass that of the United States It is found that as of July 2000, China genetic engineering safety assessment office has approved a total of 251 biotechnological plants, animals and microorganisms for laboratory experiments, environmental release or commercial production Thirty one of them have been approved for commercial production By contrast, as of July 2001, US regulators approved 51 biotech crops According to Scott Rozelle, a professor of agricultural resource economics at the University of California, Davis, a large number of crops produced in China are those that the rest of the world has not started to involve, that is, those that are more difficult for private enterprises to obtain returns China's biotech crops include rice, wheat, peanuts, tobacco, cabbage, sweet pepper, pepper and Petunia Most are genetically engineered to resist disease, pests or pesticides Rozelle conducted the survey with colleagues in China and New York The results were published in the January 25 issue of the journal Science The researchers found that China spends $100 million a year on plant biotechnology, and officials plan to raise research funding to $500 million by 2005 Worldwide, the research and development expenditure of transgenic plants is estimated to be 3 billion US dollars Among them, $2 billion is spent by the private sector and $1 billion by the government In terms of public expenditure, the U.S share is estimated to be less than $500 million There is a heated debate around the world about the risks and benefits of GM crops to the environment, consumer health and growers Therefore, the research findings of China's investment in biotechnology are also very different Ignatio chapela, an assistant professor of Microecology at the University of California, Berkeley, said the news was worrying He reported in November that a wild Maize in Mexico was contaminated with biotech genes He said that China should not let so many products be released into the environment, because these crops will not only stay in China, but will have an impact on the world Martina Newell McGloughlin, director of biotechnology programs at the University of California, Davis, welcomed this He thinks it shows that everything in life is relevant This technology has been adopted by people in the real world who really need it, while those who live in rich countries who live in rich countries object, and their concerns are based on a vacuum in the idealized world But others say the survey shows that China is more cautious than expected about adopting GM technology There have been rumours that Chinese farmers are planting a wide range of biotech crops, said Margeret Mellon, President of the U.S alliance of scientists for food and environment programs Rozelle believes that China's planting area of biotechnology is 1 million acres, compared with more than 50 million acres in the United States, most of which are planted with corn and soybeans China mainly grows genetically modified cotton, which can make its own insecticide BT, just like the insecticides introduced by genetically modified corn, cotton and other crops in the United States Bt cotton varieties account for more than 20 of the 31 products approved for sale in China Cotton has no food use except for cottonseed oil, which, according to Doreen stabinsky, shows that China is moving ahead carefully in biotechnology Stabinsky, a former professor of environmental research at California State University, said that while the findings may sound like China's push for genetic engineering, the implication is that China has not invested much in genetically modified food At present, stabinsky is a scientific adviser to Greenpeace Greenpeace is against genetically modified food Rozelle said most Chinese consumers know nothing about genetically modified ingredients in food, similar to what happened in the United States a few years ago The findings, released publicly in China last summer, have led to heated debate, with some calling for more regulation and experimentation Rozelle said that if you tell the intellectuals, the people in the University, they will say, "I prefer my food to be free of these genetically modified ingredients." Bt cotton growers, he said, reported better health because they did not spray pesticides Rozelle said China uses more pesticides than the United States and has less safety protection Bt cotton is very popular in China, especially for the supporters and opponents of biotechnology, because the more pesticides exist in the environment, the faster pests evolve to be resistant to insecticides, whether by spraying or including them in plants However, due to China's accession to the WTO this year, in order to have an impact on the world market, it is necessary to consider the world's consumer resistance to genetically modified food But China is not blameless for bioengineering crops Last year, China expressed concern that Monsanto plans to patent a genetic blueprint for a High-yield Soybean that originated in China centuries ago Rozelle said that the gene insertion technology that Chinese scientists have developed is quite different from that of the United States As far as he knows, China's technological methods should be very competitive (author:) share to feed Weibo share to: