Top scientist cautious over GM food safety
By Wang Xiang |
March 6, 2010, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
CONCERNS over the safety of genetically modified rice are reasonable but people should keep an open mind on the subject, Yuan Longping, the father of hybrid rice in China, has said.
Yuan, winner of the first State Preeminent Science and Technology Award in 2000, was commenting on controversy over the Ministry of Agriculture's decision to grant safety certificates for two GM rice strains last November.
He said most genetically modified foods were safe, the People's Political Consultative Daily reported yesterday. Some foods, like rice and wheat, were genetically modified only to improve their photosynthesis ability and were harmless, Yuan told the newspaper.
But he said the fear of GM food was reasonable as some crops had been injected with a toxic protein gene to enhance insect resistance.
"People want to know how people could stay safe eating the rice that could kill insects, it is normal," Yuan said.
The authorities should be cautious in promoting GM foods across the country because scientists could hardly predict all possible threats such gene could pose to human beings, he said. It was still too soon to find out whether GM crops were a good idea.
Huang Dafang, director of the Biotechnology Research Institute at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said the rice was only engineered to resist certain insects and would be totally safe for humans.
Yuan, winner of the first State Preeminent Science and Technology Award in 2000, was commenting on controversy over the Ministry of Agriculture's decision to grant safety certificates for two GM rice strains last November.
He said most genetically modified foods were safe, the People's Political Consultative Daily reported yesterday. Some foods, like rice and wheat, were genetically modified only to improve their photosynthesis ability and were harmless, Yuan told the newspaper.
But he said the fear of GM food was reasonable as some crops had been injected with a toxic protein gene to enhance insect resistance.
"People want to know how people could stay safe eating the rice that could kill insects, it is normal," Yuan said.
The authorities should be cautious in promoting GM foods across the country because scientists could hardly predict all possible threats such gene could pose to human beings, he said. It was still too soon to find out whether GM crops were a good idea.
Huang Dafang, director of the Biotechnology Research Institute at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said the rice was only engineered to resist certain insects and would be totally safe for humans.
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