Genetically Modified Doubts

　　When Beijing resident Xie Hongzhen visits herrural hometown in Jiangsu Province every year, the topitem on her list of things to take back to Beijing with her iscooking oil, as many bottles as she can carry.

　　“It’s safe for me to eat oil made from soybeans grownby my parents in my hometown,” said Xie. “I don’t trustthe soybean oil sold in the supermarkets in Beijing as it ismainly made from genetically modified (GM) soybeans.”

　　The jury is still out on the safety of GM crops, andpublic debate on the topic has flourished in China. “Manyexperts say there is no evidence showing GM food willharm people’s health, but who knows?” said Xie. “So, I willdo my best to avoid such foods, for my own safety andthat of my family.”

　　It is now difficult to find non-GM soybean oil in China’ssupermarkets, as almost 90 percent of the soybeanoil found in the nation’s supermarkets is made from GMsoybeans, according to the Heilongjiang Soybean Association.

　　Consumers wary

　　Public concerns about GM crops grew on June 13, whenChina’s Ministry of Agriculture issued bio-safety certificatesto three new overseas varieties of GM soybeans, allowingthem to be imported as raw materials for domesticprocessing.

　　While GM seed providers, like the U.S.-basedMonsanto,breathed a sigh of relief at being granted thischance to enter China’s huge market, Chinese consumersare holding their collective breath, concernedabout what the rise of GM food will bring.

　　According to a public poll on sina.com.cn, China’slargest Internet portal website, after the Ministry ofAgriculture’s soybean announcement, about 77.7percent of the respondents said they believedthat GM foods are harmful to people’s health,while 86.5 percent clearly indicated that theywould not buy GM foods.

　　“Actually, China was very cautious inevaluatingthe safety of the three varieties of GMsoybeans,” said Peng Yufa, Deputy Director ofthe National Transgenic Crop Committee, ata press conference on June 14. He noted thatit took the Agriculture Ministry three years toapprove their application, and during this period, repeatedevaluations had been made.

　　Also, the cooking oil made from the imported soybeansdoes not contain transgenic proteins, he said. “So,there will be no food safety threat.”

　　But Peng’s explanation failed to ease people’s concerns.

　　In late June, Wang Xiaoyu, Deputy Secretary Generalof Heilongjiang Soybean Association, asserted that GMsoybeans may cause cancer as his studies indicate thatthe regions where people mainly consume GM soybeansare also home to the highest number of cancer patients.Though many experts argue that his claim is baseless,Chinese consumers are still wary of GM foods.

　　“This issue [the safety of GM crops] is being debated inacademic circles and no one has come up with sufficientevidence showing whether or not it is safe,” Chen Xiwen,Deputy Head of Central Rural Work Leading Group toldChinAfrica. “But as far as I know, there have been no caseswhere eating GM foods has harmed people’s health.”

　　Huge demand

　　China began importing GM soybeans in 1997. At thattime, no certificates were required, and the imports ofGM crops increased dramatically from 2.88 million tons in1997 to 13.94 million tons in 2001, with these crops mainlycoming from the United States, Argentina and Brazil.

　　“Compared with domestically-grown non-GM soybeans,imported GM soybeans are more welcomed byprocessing enterprises because of the stable supply,low transportation costs, low prices and highoil yield,” said Feng Jie, Chief R&D Supervisor forGalaxy Futures Co. Ltd. in Beijing. “That’s why GMsoybean imports grew so fast after they first enteredthe Chinese market.”

　　In 2001, the Chinese Government establishedbarriers for importing GM crops and issued newregulations - the Regulations on Administrationof Agricultural Genetically Modified Organisms(GMOs) Safety and the AdministrativeMeasures for Safety of Imported AgriculturalGMOs.

　　According to the regulations, internationalGM crops can only enter the Chinese marketafter obtaining bio-safety certificates from theMinistry of Agriculture. These certificates are only validfor three years for GM soybeans and corn, and five yearsfor cotton.

　　However, these barriers failed to curb the rapid growthof GM soybean imports, which continued to grow, reaching58.38 million tons in 2012.

　　According to Zheng Fengtian, Professor at RenminUniversity of China School of Agricultural Economics andRural Development, the rapid increase of GM soybean importsin recent years is due to increasing market demand.“Locally grown non-GM soybeans are far from enoughto meet market demand,” said Zheng.

　　Statistics show that China currently has about120million mu (8 million hectares) of land being used togrow soybeans, producing 12.8 million tons of soybeans ayear. “But its market demand for soybeans exceeds 70 milliontons every year. This means we must import soybeansfrom other countries,” said Chen.

　　Impact on China

　　Owing to the rapid growth of GM soybean imports, manyscholars are watching the future development of locallygrownnon-GM soybeans.

　　According to Xu Ran, Director of the Soybean StudiesDivision at the Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences’Crop Research Institute, the increasing imports ofGM soybeans from abroad have had little influence ondomestic soybean processing enterprises, but will greatlyimpact the enthusiasm of soybean growers in China, andthe lower price may prompt some non-GM processingenterprises to turn to GM soybeans, said Xu.

　　Shandong Province in east China is one ofthe country’smajor soybean growing areas and has seen the soybeangrowing fields within the province shrink from morethan 12 million mu (800,000 hectares) to about 3 millionmu (200,000 hectares). China has been growing soybeansfor more than 5,000 years, and was once a world leader insoybean production. But it now ranks fourth, trailing afterthe United States, Brazil and Argentina, and has movedfrom being a soybean exporter to a net importer.

　　The decline of domestically grown soybean has alsoimpacted soybean processing. According to Li Zhongling,General Manager of Shandong Jiaxiang Oleochemicals Co.Ltd., of the 1.2 million tons of soybeans his company nowprocesses, 90 percent are imported GM beans. However,before 2004, they only used non-GM soybeans.

　　Farmers have also felt the impact of importedGM soybeans.A decade ago, Liu Shunqiang, a villager who livesin Ganyu County, Jiangsu Province, had about 10 mu (0.67hectare) of field for growing soybeans.

　　“Back in the day, during the soybean harvest season,there were many dealers who came here to buy our soybeansat quite high prices, and we could earn money bygrowing soybeans,” he told ChinAfrica. “But now, no one[dealers] even comes here.”

　　This year, the land that Liu uses to grow soybeans hasbeen reduced to one-10th of the original area. “Nearly allthe farmers in my village only grow soybeans for their ownuse, because we cannot sell them now,” said Liu.

　　Xu Ran of the Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciencessuggested that China adopt measures to protectthe interests of non-GM soybean growers. “China canopen its market to GM soybeans, but must first strengthenprotections for domestic non-GM soybean growers,” hesaid. “But the fact is, China’s protection measures areinsufficient. The Chinese Government should do more inthis regard.”

　　By Ni Yanshuo

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