Two Strains of GMO Rice Spread illegally in China

AFP
June 15, 2011

Genetically modified rice has been spreading illegally for years in China, officials have admitted, triggering a debate on a sensitive aspect of the food security plan in the world’s most populous nation.

Two strains of GM rice were approved for open-field experiments but not commercial sale in 2009. In January, the agriculture ministry said “no genetically modified cereals are being grown in China” outside the test sites.

But in April, an environment ministry official told the weekly Nanfang Zhoumo that a joint investigation by four government departments had found that “illegal GM seeds are present in several provinces because of weak management”.

The agriculture ministry did not respond to an AFP request for clarification.

According to the website for the European Union’s Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed, European countries found foodstuffs from China containing GM rice 115 times between 2006 and May this year.

The campaign from Greenpeace says GM rice seeds have been in China since 2005, and were found at markets in Hubei, Hunan and Jiangxi provinces last year, Fang Lifeng, a Chinese agriculture specialist with the group, told AFP.

Beijing is pro-biotechnology and has already allowed several GM crops to be grown, including cotton, peppers, tomatoes and papayas, and has authorised imports of GM soya and corn for the food industry.

But rice — the key staple in the diet of the country’s more than 1.3 billion people — is a much more sensitive question.

“Two-thirds of Chinese eat rice every day,” said Tong Pingya, a highly respected agronomist who blasted Chinese scientists for “treating the people like guinea pigs” at a conference in May chaired by Vice-Premier Li Keqiang.

“China does not need this genetically modified rice, as it produces enough and even exports a bit,” Tong told AFP.

When the National People’s Congress, China’s rubber-stamp parliament, met last year, around 100 researchers wrote to deputies asking them to revoke authorizations for the use of experimental GM grains, including a strain of corn as well as the two rice types.

They also demanded a public debate and clear labelling of products containing genetically modified organisms.

Backers of GM rice argue that it is more drought-resistant, offers better yield, and — in the case of the variety containing the Bt gene — allows pesticide use to be dramatically cut.

“It should be possible to authorise commercialisation around 2012-2013, but the state will probably not allow them to be used on a wide scale” in the near future, said Ma Wenfeng, a grain market analyst with the consultancy CNagri, which has links to the agriculture ministry.

According to Ma, the new varieties represent “an advance in biotechnology” and will ultimately be accepted.

For their part, environmentalists and some Chinese scientists warn against the as-yet unknown long-term consequences of using GM rice for biodiversity and human health.

Whether using them is in farmers’ interests is an open question, according to Greenpeace’s Fang, because “GM seeds cost two to five times more than ordinary seeds” and “in terms of yield, there isn’t really a difference”.

GM rice strains developed in Chinese laboratories also raise questions about intellectual property.

The Bt gene is patented by the US agribusiness giant Monsanto, which could demand royalties and compensation from China if that variety is commercialised.

GMO created foods are biological weapons

“We have a greenhouse full of corn plants that produce anti-sperm antibodies,” said Mitch Hein, president of Epicyte, a California-based biotechnology company.

By Luis R. Miranda
The Real Agenda
June 1, 2011

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) used to create food and crop seeds are true biological weapons to create infertility worldwide. There are several companies working in the field of biotechnology and nanotechnology, which exist for the sole purpose of studying, experimenting and creating genetically modified organisms that cause infertility in animals, plants and humans. The most famous of all the companies that produces GMO seed is Monsanto, whose executives have publicly said that they want Monsanto to become the only producer of seeds in the world and that no food should be grown that does not come from seeds manufactured by their company.

Monsanto is joined by other giants of biotechnology and chemistry such as Cargill, DuPont and ConAgra. But the creation and application of transgenic organisms is not limited to these multinational corporations. There are smaller contractors who do the same work, perhaps with more impressive results due to the expertise of its work. This is the case of Epicyte, a company in California, whose president has shown his satisfaction to be in possession of massive quantities of agricultural products infested with GMO ingredients, that after being consumed would cause the sterilization of those who ingest and absorb his company’s GMO ingredients.

A May 28 report states that the Codex international organization, founded by the United Nations, which regulates all foods, minerals and herbs in the world, does not believe that GMO products are food, and this places foods with these ingredients in a different place than food produced naturally, and as such, can be used for various practices, including birth control and the creation of infertility in a nation or people.

In one of his publications, the Salem News indicates that there are efforts at the local, regional, national and international levels to identify and label GMOs in products for human consumption, but governments and corporations refuse to accept such a request. After the implementation of Codex Alimentarius in 2009 the will of the big companies came true, for within the regulations set by Codex, it is clearly stated that GMOs are not considered food and therefore can not be identified on the labels.

The existence of genetically modified corn was analyzed in tests conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the company Epicyte. In announcing his success in a 2001 press conference, the president of Epicyte, Mitch Hein, said his company’s transgenic corn plants, “create anti-sperm antibodies.”

Hein said the creation of transgenic organisms and their use in food could be used as a tool to solve the overpopulation problem.

In 1996, after the creation and use of genetically modified organisms in corn and other grains sent to South America, Mexico and Africa, analysis revealed that, almost immediately after the introduction of Bt corn in the United States, the birth rate had fallen in an accelerated way; only three years after the introduction of GMOs into the food supply.

Many foundations push governments to expand and accept the use of GMOs in food and in that list are of course the corn, soybeans and rice. These three are the most widely used grains in the eradication of hunger and poverty in the world. The Gates, Rockefeller, Kofi Annan’s Agra foundations, are three of the most prestigious organizations that strive to increase the supply of funds and food to the neediest populations in the world. Many of these foods contain GMOs.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation spends billions of dollars “helping” with the planting and harvesting of genetically modified crops in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Do you recognize the genocide? These foundations not only evade tax collection with their alleged philanthropy, but collaborate with the murder of millions of people who do not know what their food contains, or even knowing it, have no choice but to feed themselves with GMOs.

In the United States there is a continuing struggle between consumers and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to label products that contain GMOs. However, the government agency has given way to the requirements of large corporations before the public’s interest. Most uninformed or misinformed people continue buying and consuming contaminated food. Meanwhile, because GMO’s are not considered as “food” by Codex Alimentarius, those who oppose the use of these ingredients in food do not understand why the FDA still allows the corporations to put it in basic grains used to manufacture most some of the products that people eat, drink and use daily.

Creating a GMO that is used in the manufacture of food consumed by humans, which was modified to sterilize, is essentially an example of the use of a biological weapon with the sole aim of reducing world population by stealth. Well, this is no longer a secret. GMO foods are not considered by Codex Alimentarius as “food”, but at the same time it allows large and small biotech companies to use them in making consumer products worldwide. The purpose is very clear.

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