OT -- Frankenfood, the real story....
China Rushes to Adopt Genetically Improved Crops
Until the introduction of Bollgard in the Chinese cotton belt three years ago, farmers like Ma Yuzhuo sprayed their fields with tons of organophosphate pesticides to kill bollworms. So toxic is the compound, which is similar to the basic ingredient of nerve gas, that many people die from exposure to it each year.
Standing beneath a figwort tree, Mr Ma said his sons, weaker than he, suffered nausea and troubled breathing at least twice every year. They need expensive injections of antropine, the antidote that soldiers carried in the Persian Gulf war in case of nerve-gas attacks from Iraq.
But the Bt gene in Bollgard makes the plant produce a protein toxic to bollworms, reducing the need for spraying pesticides, raising yields and allowing Mr. Ma to survive. "I don't understand it, but I know it works," he said, looking over his thigh-high plants for bollworms.
In Shahexin, Mr. Ma said, even with the worms that have reappeared, he has not had to spray. Before the modified cotton arrived, he and his children sprayed their fields 20 to 30 times from May to September because the worm had grown so resistant to the pesticide. He said his yield had increased as much as 50% since he started planting the modified cotton. And, he said, by not buying pesticides he saves $80 an acre - and his life.
Bioengineered crops are not grown much in western Europe. But China has embraced them, growing cotton and other crops faster than any other Asian nation.
Saving lives is one motivation. But saving its farm economy is the chief concern. China hopes that genetics can save farmers like Mr. Ma from devastation by helping produce lower-cost, high-quality products after it joins the World Trade Organisation.
China's rush to genetic crops is part of a broader effort to co-opt the new science as China's own before it is dominated by the West, as has occurred with other technologies. Genetic engineering is at the top of the list and the double helix has replaced the atom as the symbol of the modernisation drive.
Laboratories around the country are working on producing virus-resistant papayas, potatoes, tobacco and tomatoes. Among the scientists is Chen Zhanliang. He is in charge of developing transgenic plants other than cotton. His panel gives money to more than 150 laboratories that are working on projects like drought-resistant rice and corn with high oil levels.
China was the first in the world to grow genetically engineered crops commercially, starting with virus-resistant tobacco plants in north-eastern Liaoning Province in 1988. Since 1997, Beijing has approved crops, double the number released in the United States. Several, including slow-ripening tomatoes and virus-resistant green peppers, are in commercial production and have entered the food supply.
One of the biggest gene-transplanting efforts focuses on rice. Chinese geneticists are identifying the functions of specific genes and will soon create rice with fewer stalks per plant, but twice as many kernels per stalk, for example, or rice that needs less water or rice with a higher protein content.
"In less than 10 years, we'll be accessing technology from China," said John Killmer, vice president of Monsanto Far East Ltd. in Beijing.
Enthusiasm for the new science abounds. There is no public debate to stir up the opposition that has brought the development of genetically modified crops to a near standstill in India. In fact, Chinese scientists are derisive about Europe's resistance. Mr. Chen said, studies had shown no significant differences in rats fed modified foods against those on normal diets.
defencejournal.com
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See how the Chinese have killed two birds with one stone? Thanks to GECs, they'll be able to secure their food self-sufficiency AND scale down their pesticide imports (mostly from European & US cos). Understandably, this is not to please Europe, an agribusiness behemoth stuck with food surplus and a shrinking/aging population....
Gus |
