China’s No.1 Central Document focuses on agriculture has been issued at the end of last month. Among the document, government’s attitude towards GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) industry has turned around which has arouse heat discussions. It can be found that GMO word has been proposed for 8 times in No.1 Central Document since 2007, among which “GMO” has been proposed for 7 times and GMO similar concept has been proposed for 1 time. Being an important policy document from the China central government, this indicates the Chinese government’s attitude towards GMO is chaning.
Changing description of GM policies in No.1 Central Document of MOA through 2007 to 2016
It can be found that from the very beginning the government encouraged the development of GM technology, but with more concern on food safety in recent year and limited progress in the previous year, the government turns to be more cautious this year. In spite of technology development difficulties, the public are also placing huge pressure on government due to limited GM knowledge and information asymmetry on administrative management system all these years. As a result, the government decided to popularize GM knowledge to the public in 2015’s No.1 document.
GMO industrialization made little progress
The development of GMO in China has been gone through for more than 20 years since the first GM cotton was approved in 1997. Based on the GMO Q&A on MOA’s website on 2013, the authority has approved 7 GM crops until then: GM tomato and cotton in 1997; GM morning glory, chili, and pawpaw in 2006; GM rice and corn in 2009. It said that there are more than 3.3 million hectare GM cotton plant, and small scale of pawpaw plant, while the other approved GM crop made little progress. And there is no updated information about the newest data so far. Mr. Chen Xiwen, director of the Office of Central Rural Work Leading Group said, currently, we mainly uses GM cotton and GM food only limited to pawpaw in China, while those tomato, chili or other vegetables that the public said are all not GM products.
GM industrialization should move on
In 2016’s No.1 Central Document, the government insists to reinforce the regulation and control on the research and spread of the agricultural GM technology to ensure the food safety. In general, the policies encourage developing GM technology and enhancing supervision. Mr. Han Jun, deputy director of the Office of Central Rural Work Leading Group, said that a new round of agricultural technology revolution is around the corner, being a country with more than 1.3 billion population; China should always seize the top technology.
Meanwhile, early this month, ChemChina has just announced that they had agreed to acquire the Swiss agrochemical and seeds company Syngenta by way of a public tender offer. Syngenta is a one of the famous GM crop manufacturers around the world. ChemChina is a state-own company that the acquisition of Syngenta means the Chinese government wants to increase the slow growth of grains in China through ChemChina buying Syngenta to develop the genetically modified organisms (GMOs). But, based on the current situation, being lacking of technology and innovation, little progress has been made on GM crop application and expansion, and the public has not accept the GM crops, there is still a long way to open the gate for GM industry.
