Public debate reignites in China following investigation of illegal GMO corn and cotton

A war of words in China has reignited public debate over just how far genetically modified food – still mostly illegal here – has already infiltrated the country.

The spat began as an investigation. In April, following on government reports that illegal GMO corn and cotton had been found on the southern Chinese island of Hainan, the nonprofit Greenpeace, which monitors GMO issues, dispatched two employees to learn more. The two visited the area referenced in the report, a GMO development site run by Huazhong Agricultural University, one of the nation’s leading research institutes on crop genetics. The pair took three bags of rice seeds just outside the trial-planting area belonging to the university, which is working to develop GMO rice strains.

This isn’t the first time Greenpeace has warned that illegal GMO grains may be running amok in China. While the country has not yet allowed public sales of GMO grains, including rice, corn and wheat, it allows related scientific research and limited imports – as long as the imports are used only for animal consumption.

But the prevalence of GMO food in China remains a hot potato. Public resistance to GMO continues to run deep, in part because GMOs are closely associated with fears of becoming reliant U.S. technology, which still dominates the GMO industry. The debate has spilled into China’s microblogging platforms, with opinions swinging between criticism of Greenpeace and suspicion of China’s government.

Read the full, original article: Spat Over ‘Stolen’ GMO Seeds Touches Nerves In China

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