Linda . . . CHCL . . . I think this is the WSJ article:
March 29, 2000
In China, the Need for Food Makes
Genetic Engineering Top Priority
By KARBY LEGGETT and IAN JOHNSON
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
ANZHUANG VILLAGE, China -- A decade after insects and pesticides
dethroned cotton on the North China Plain, king cotton is back -- thanks
to genetic engineering.
"I was the first one in the village to plant these new cotton seeds, but when
everyone saw how great the results were, they started growing again, too,"
says An Deyin, a stout 55-year-old who for two years has bought
genetically modified cotton seeds at a nearby market. "Everyone in the
village believes in this technology."
Indeed, everyone in China seems to believe in genetic engineering. As
Western countries grow squeamish over potential problems linked to
genetically modified crops, China's leaders have made genetic research
their top scientific priority, seeing it as a source of stable food supplies and
a path to national glory.
Across China, debate about the
safety of the technology is muted
and consumer warnings almost
nonexistent. Instead, the double
helix of DNA has become a
national symbol of progress,
displayed on floats during last
year's National Day parade and
turned into giant sculptures in public
parks. Such is Beijing's excitement
that it has even set aside its traditional suspicion of foreign ownership and
handed the largest chunk of Chinese land since 1949 to a U.S.-listed
company, China Continental Inc. in exchange for a promise to build a
state-of-the-art genetic-research lab in Inner Mongolia.
Playing Catch-Up
China is still playing catch-up with the West, but its progress has been
rapid. Beijing has funneled billions of dollars into research on modifying the
genes of crops and vegetables, animals and humans. The effort is bearing
fruit: In the past year, the government has approved a dozen new strains of
rice, potatoes, tomatoes, corn and trees, all developed domestically. While
genetic engineering of animals and medicines is less developed, one
Chinese researcher has a well-publicized project to clone the panda,
China's national animal, and promises success within two years.
In developed countries, this level of enthusiasm has long since been
replaced by caution. Most genetically modified foods are still grown in the
West -- the U.S. alone accounts for 70% of the world's land planted with
genetically modified seeds -- but a populist backlash against so-called
Frankenfoods is growing. North American companies such as Seagram
Co., the Frito Lay Inc. unit of PepsiCo Inc., Gerber Products Co. and
French-fry maker McCain Foods Ltd. have foresworn using genetically
altered foods in their products. In Europe, some countries have blocked
imports of genetically modified foods, while major supermarket chains, like
Carrefour SA of France, have banned the use of genetically altered
products in their own brands until a clearer picture of the potential health
implications is available.
"In the West, we pay farmers not to produce," says Susan McCouch, a
researcher at Cornell University who heads an international program on
genetic research into rice. "But in China the needs are completely different."
Feeding the People
Indeed, the main benefit of genetically altered foods -- higher yields, lower
costs -- addresses the biggest worry facing leaders here and in most of the
developing world: how to feed and clothe their huge populations. As
China's 1.3 billion consumers demand more meat and dairy products,
researchers estimate that crop yields may have to triple to keep pace.
Yet boosting yields is a tricky task. The amount of arable land in China is
shrinking because of encroaching deserts and erosion, forcing China to
control runoff water by converting some farmland back into forests and
grasslands. Many other options, such as pesticides and irrigation, are
ubiquitous. In Mr. An's village, efforts to combat cotton-eating insects led
to such high pesticide use that one of his relatives died spraying the poison.
While other solutions, such as less waste of stored grain, are possible,
genetically modified crops offer a more immediate solution.
The other lure for China is a chance to win global recognition as a great
scientific power, an effort already bearing fruit in a rural Beijing suburb. In
a bright, white building surrounded by cornfields, 130 scientists from the
National Genetic Group Northern Research Center are making China's
contribution to the Human Genome Project, an ambitious effort to map the
genetic structure of the human body.
As the only developing nation in the six-nation project, China has garnered
some of the recognition it has long craved. Like much of China's genetic
research, work here pales at first glance next to work done in richer
countries: China will map just 1% of the genomes and joined the
nine-year-old project only last year. But it also reflects an amazing
achievement for a country with a per capita income of less than $400.
"China sees its future in high technology," says geneticist Zhang Meng. "We
want to make a contribution to humanity and to improve our nation's
capabilities."
Genetic Superpower?
While research is a first step, China knows it will be a real genetics
superpower only when it is able to commercialize its scientists' findings.
The country's continued emphasis on state ownership means dynamic
private companies, some of which are starting to spring up in the biotech
industry, are hard-pressed to raise capital. Of the 1,000-odd companies
listed on China's stock markets, none are dedicated to biotechnology.
But that, too, is starting to change -- especially in agriculture, where most
of the national effort is focused.
In the rainy southern city of Changsha, Professor Yuan Longping has set
up a company to capitalize on his decades of experience in raising rice
yields. Long-revered as the father of modern Chinese agriculture -- a
common saying among Chinese farmers goes, "If you want to fill your
stomach, rely on Yuan Longping" -- the spry 70-year-old is expanding his
work into genetic engineering. Reflecting government support for
commercialization of genetic research, Mr. Yuan has won tough
government approval to list his Yuan Longping Agricultural High-Tech Co.
on China's stock market.
"Up until recently, we've relied on conventional methods to boost crop
yields," Mr. Yuan says, using English he learned 60 years ago at missionary
schools in China. "But to go further we need to turn to biotechnology."
Huge Market for Foreign Firms
Until domestic producers such as Mr. Yuan gear up production, China
remains a huge market for foreign firms, such as Monsanto Co., to sell
genetically modified seeds. The St. Louis company won permission two
years ago to set up a joint venture to produce its genetically altered cotton
seeds. Now, nearly 90% of the cotton grown in central Hebei province is
genetically altered, mostly from Monsanto's Bollgard-brand cotton seeds.
"The evidence we see is that biotech crops are becoming ubiquitous," says
John L. Killmer, vice president of Monsanto Far East Ltd. in Beijing.
Chinese researchers say one reason for biotech's rapid spread is that the
country conducts relatively few tests on the health and environmental
impact of the new strains. Although companies such as Monsanto say
China's regulatory practice is thorough, others say the approval process
emphasizes productivity over safety.
Just a few miles down the road from Farmer An's village lives Wei Guoshu,
a professor at the Hebei Agricultural University in Baoding who researches
the impact of genetically modified cotton seeds on the environment and
people's health. Mr. Wei, whose research is funded by Monsanto, says the
new seeds have sparked a rebirth of the province's cotton industry, which
was wrecked in the early-1990s after bollworms grew resistant to chemical
pesticides.
Mr. Wei, however, says the new technology has been adopted before its
effect on humans and nature is clear. "Consider the example of [the
pesticide] DDT," he says. "At first, DDT was thought to be an effective
pesticide and it was quickly put into mass use. But only much later did we
learned how harmful DDT really is."
For now, though, such concerns are limited to a small number of Chinese
researchers. Though most stand firmly behind the use of genetically
engineered foods, they say the government's progene research policy
makes it difficult to object.
Indeed, the tide seems hard to turn back. Just outside Mr. Wei's office is
the market where Mr. An bought his new cotton seeds. Dubbed "Seed
Street" by locals, the quarter-mile-long series of stalls and stores is
swarming with farmers from the scores of red-brick villages that surround
the city. Planting time is near and while the new genetically altered cotton
seeds are expensive by local standards, farmers eagerly fork over about $4
for a one-kilogram bag.
'I'm Not Afraid'
Liu Huafen, a dealer for Hebei Seeds Co., says the Monsanto seeds nearly
monopolize the market. As she haggles with a farmer over the price of
about a half ton of the seeds, she says: "Farmers see that they can again
make money by planting these cotton seeds."
Farmer An, for example, lifted his cotton yield nearly fivefold through the
new seeds, allowing him to make the equivalent of $60 profit last year.
"You get high production, so why not plant it?" he says. "I'm not afraid."
On the same stretch of Seed Street where Mr. An bought his seeds, a
domestic brand of seeds developed by a government research institute has
just hit the market. It includes two genes that have been transplanted into
the cotton seeds, with the goal of resisting both the pesky bollworm and its
more-resistant offspring that continue to damage cotton crops.
On the cover of the colorful 1-kilogram plastic bag is a splashy yellow
banner that reads: "A Key Project of the Ministry of Agriculture and
Ministry of Finance." As the sales clerk hefts the bag over the counter, a
couple of farmers peer closely at the red-tinged seeds, which cost 20%
less than Monsanto's. Few notice the fine print on the back of the package,
where a different message is delivered: "If quality problems arise, this
product must be returned within two weeks, otherwise the producer
accepts no responsibility."
Write to Karby Leggett at karby.leggett@wsj.com and Ian Johnson at
ian.johnson@w |
