Genetically modified (GM) grain has been banned for security reasons from consumption by military personnel in the city of Xiangyang, Hubei province, the People’s Daily reported.
The logistics department of Guangzhou Military Area Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and Hubei PLA grain supply provision center on May 6 banned genetically modified finished products of grains and oil, the report said. GM technology’s increasing presence in the Chinese mainland food supply in recent years has raised security concerns and supply has been banned to “protect soldiers’ health,” the center explained in a statement.
After the post went viral and attracted heated debate on media and social platforms, the center deleted the post at 3 pm on Thursday, Hong Kong daily Wen Wei Po reported.
Hubei province has the most serious problem with illegal planting of GM rice, Tang Damin, international communications officer at Greenpeace East Asia, told the Global Times. This can explain the ban, he said.
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“GM food is totally safe to eat,” Lu Baorong, a professor at the School of Life Sciences at Fudan University, told the Global Times. “They have just been demonized in China because of some people’s fear towards new technology.”
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