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By Joe McDonald, Associated Press Writer | December 2, 2004
BEIJING -- The Chinese government said Thursday it is testing the safety of genetically modified rice but denied claims by environmentalists that it is preparing to allow commercial sales.
The announcement, carried by the government's Xinhua News Agency, came a day after the group Greenpeace appealed to Beijing to reconsider what it said were plans to sell genetically modified rice, warning of threats to public health and agricultural diversity.
"Launching evaluation procedure doesn't mean that we will issue safety certification to them. We didn't make any decision yet," Xinhua quoted an Agriculture Ministry official as saying. It said there were "no GM rice varieties in China being issued with safety certificates."
The Chinese government is researching genetic engineering of a wide range of crops, hoping to increase farm output as it copes with a shortage of farmland and the need to feed a population of 1.3 billion people.
China has seen little of the debate that has raged abroad about the possible dangers of genetically modified, or GM, crops.
A report released by Greenpeace on Wednesday said China might be just weeks away from becoming the first government to permit the commercial use of GM rice.
The Agriculture Ministry official, who wasn't identified further by Xinhua, said rice varieties being tested had a range of characteristics such as resistance to insects, diseases, weed killers and long-term storage.
China is expected to produce 455 million metric tons of rice this year, but that will barely meet the country's needs, Xinhua said, citing government statistics.
"GM grain could largely promote yield, decrease cost and alleviate pollution caused by widespread use of dangerous pesticides. That's also our aim in the long run," Xinhua quoted Zhu Zhen, a professor at the Institute of Genetics and Biology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as saying.
The institute has applied for a safety evaluation of a strain of insect-resistant GM rice, the report said.
Xinhua, which rarely quotes government critics or views opposing official policy, took the unusual step Thursday of citing a Greenpeace expert who warned of possible dangers.
"Rice is often subject to only minimal processing before eating, and certain groups such as infants could be particularly at risk," the expert, Doreen Stabinsky, was quoted as saying.
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Lack of state oversight is potentially harmful to the environment and health, critics say.
By Philip Brasher
Register Washington Bureau
Washington, D.C. - After high-profile contamination incidents involving genetically engineered corn, Iowa officials said it was time to start regulating some of the riskiest biotech crops. State legislators refused to go along, however.
Iowa isn't alone. States are leaving it to the federal government to regulate field trials of biotech crops, even those designed for pharmaceutical and industrial purposes, according to a study being released today by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology, a nonpartisan group.
Biotech companies say there is no need for state regulation of the crops. Critics say such lack of oversight could potentially contaminate food crops or harm the environment or human health.
"Clearly, biotechnology has been embraced openly by the political folks there (in Iowa) and the governor," said Michael Taylor, one of the study's authors. "There was some effort made to develop a regulatory framework, which didn't go anywhere in the Legislature."
Several federal agencies share oversight of agricultural biotechnology, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture taking the lead in regulating field trials of gene-altered crops. The department decides whether to allow the trials, sets restrictions on cultivation and handling of the crops, and is supposed to inspect the fields for compliance. Inspections by state agents also are allowed.
Minnesota, unique among states, has its own system for issuing permits for biotech crops, parallel to the federal program. Opponents of the state regulations say they are redundant and are trying to get them eliminated.
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By DEB RIECHMANN Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush on Thursday chose Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns as secretary of agriculture to oversee the nation's farm and food programs, an administration official said.
Johanns, a Republican, would succeed Ann M. Veneman, who recently announced her resignation despite saying earlier that she wanted to stay.
The selection of Johanns reflects the administration's desire to focus heavily on farm trade over the next four years. As governor, Johanns led a delegation of Nebraska's farm and business leaders on a trade mission to Japan, Taiwan, China, Singapore and a half dozen other countries.
So far, seven of Bush's 15-member Cabinet have announced they won't be part of the second term. More are expected, and administration officials say Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson appears to be next.
Born in Iowa and raised on a dairy farm, Johanns, 54, became a lawyer and served in county and city government before becoming mayor of Lincoln, Neb., in 1991. He won the governor's office in 1998 and in 2002 became the first Republican to win re-election in more than four decades.
Johanns had been considered a possible challenger to Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson in 2006.
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By Emma Marris
Gene suggests ancient culture selected patterns in its corn.
The people of Mesoamerica are largely responsible for the golden corn we grow today, having domesticated tough teosinte grass thousands of years ago and bred it into modern maize.
Researchers have now located the gene responsible for some of the traits that the Mesoamericans were selecting. The discovery should help scientists understand how plants develop, and reveals just how strict the ancient breeding regime for maize (Zea mays) must have been.
Robert Schmidt, a maize researcher at the University of California, San Diego, and his colleagues were intrigued by a mutant maize that was found in South America in the 1920s. The mutant is unable to grow branches or flowers, and happens to resemble a particular rice mutant in this respect. Because the sequence of the gene that causes the effect is known for rice, Schmidt and his team were able to pin down the sequence in maize.
They called the mutated gene barren stalk1 and were able to show that the normal version of barren stalk1 regulates how the maize plants branch. They report their results in this week's Nature1.
But not only does barren stalk regulate branching, it is also located within one of five regions that maize researchers have identified as targets of domestication. So, was it one of the genes that the Mesoamericans unknowingly selected for as they tamed teosinte (Zea mexicana)?
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