Threatened breeding base in South China: illegal GM cultivation was detected two years ago

Zhang Xu

Genetically modified maize, cotton and other varieties have invaded the most important breeding base in China - Hainan South Breeding Base, threatening the safety of China's seed industry.

On March 30, the Department of Agriculture of Hainan Province announced that at the end of last year, the Department of Agriculture of Hainan Province organized relevant units to conduct genetically modified law enforcement inspection on breeding enterprises and units in the southern breeding base in Sanya, Lingshui and Ledong. It was found that 15 samples from 13 units were genetically modified positive, including 12 corn and 3 cotton, which were all scientific research and experimental plots.

The 21st Century Business Herald reporter learned from Hainan's relevant management departments and senior people in the seed industry that three Henan enterprises, one Liaoning enterprise, one agricultural university and one national brand enterprise were investigated and dealt with in Hainan this time. One enterprise in Henan is a local seed enterprise in Luohe. The local agricultural department is unwilling to disclose who the other 7 units are.

Hainan Agriculture Department said that 9 experimental crops of 7 units had been destroyed, properly handled and punished under the supervision of local agricultural law enforcement personnel.

On March 31, a person from the Agricultural Science and Education Office of Hainan Province said in a telephone interview with the 21st Century Economic Report that it would be handled in accordance with the Regulations on the Safety Management of Agricultural Genetically Modified Organisms in the process of investigation. However, it did not disclose the list of illegal transgenic experiment enterprises.

Hainan South Breeding Base is the most important breeding base in China, where hundreds of thousands of breeding materials are gathered every year. Once the transgenic test plants pollute the conventional seed resources and the surrounding environment, it will bring great harm to domestic crop breeding.

Multi enterprise illegal genetically modified breeding

According to the Hainan Provincial Department of Agriculture, from December 23 to 27, 2013, the Hainan Provincial Department of Agriculture organized relevant personnel from the provincial plant quarantine station for southern propagation, the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences and other units to carry out a law enforcement inspection on southern propagation of agricultural genetically modified crops in Sanya, Lingshui and Ledong.

In this routine inspection, the law enforcement inspection team has randomly inspected and tested 107 crop samples. The test results show that 15 samples from 13 units are genetically modified positive, all of which are scientific research test fields. Among them, there are 12 corn and 3 cotton, which are mainly distributed in individual fields in Nanbin Farm, Shibu Farm and Jiusuo Town, Ledong.

A senior person in one industry said that he communicated with some enterprises, which said that they had no knowledge before breeding and did not intend to do so. When they were inspected, some enterprises had burned the experimental corn, while others had cut it down.

We have learned from other channels that one of the three enterprises in Henan is a local seed enterprise in Luohe, but there are several local seed enterprises, which is difficult to confirm.

As for the illegal genetically modified breeding materials that have been found, Hainan Agricultural Department said that 9 experimental crops of 7 units have been destroyed, properly handled and punished under the supervision of local agricultural law enforcement personnel. Six suspected samples from the other six units are being further inspected, tested and verified, and once confirmed, they will be resolutely destroyed and punished according to law.

According to the Regulations on the Safety Management of Agricultural Genetically Modified Organisms, there are strict supervision procedures for the test breeding and planting of domestic genetically modified agricultural varieties. During the whole process of supervision, no unit or individual is allowed to privately plant genetically modified varieties without authorization.

The 21st Century Business Herald reporter interviewed many experts and learned that the domestic GM regulation also stipulates that every step of the GM experiment must be reported to the Ministry of Agriculture for approval. The breeding of transgenic varieties needs to go through four stages: laboratory, pilot test, environmental release and productive test.

In the intermediate test stage, the test field was completely sealed, surrounded by a 3m high wall and a 2m wide deep ditch, in order to avoid the escape of transgenic varieties from polluting the surrounding environment.

Although the country has strict laws and regulations, enterprises and some breeding units are still desperate. At present, it is still unclear which genes have been transferred into the maize and cotton varieties planted in the experimental fields by these units, and whether these genes are developed at home or from abroad.

Threatened breeding base in South China

Hainan South Breeding Base is the core breeding base in China, but now it is threatened by illegal transgenic breeding pollution.

Tong Pingya, a seed industry expert, told the 21st Century Business Herald reporter that this time, it was not an isolated case that the southern breeding base found transgenic test planting. As early as 2012, the Hainan Provincial Department of Agriculture organized law enforcement inspection, and found that many units and enterprises illegally and privately planted transgenic corn and other varieties of materials. At that time, the Ministry of Agriculture dealt with relevant enterprises and units, but it was not disclosed.

Since then, in the middle of March this year, the Department of Agriculture of Hainan Province has once again organized relevant personnel from the provincial plant quarantine station of southern propagation, the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences and other units to carry out a random inspection of the law enforcement of transgenic southern propagation in cities and counties such as Sanya, Ledong County, Lingshui County, etc. However, at present, the results of this law enforcement inspection have not been announced.

Tong Pingya told reporters that the scale of the southern breeding base exceeded 200000 mu, and hundreds of thousands of materials were gathered here every year. Once transgenic materials pollute conventional materials, it will bring serious losses to seed enterprises and scientific research institutions. After the transgenic materials without formal transgenic safety evaluation and identification enter the breeding process, they will expand with points, making more and more test combinations and derivatives carry transgenic components. In such a vicious circle, transgenic materials will pollute valuable backbone materials of breeders in a very short time, affecting China's corn breeding and corn production safety.

According to the data in 2011, Hainan Nanfan covers a total area of 20.12 million mu, including 174000 mu for seed production and 27000 mu for scientific research, which are mainly distributed in seven cities and counties, including Sanya, Ledong, Lingshui, Linggao, Changjiang, Dongfang and Danzhou. Crops include rice, corn, cotton, etc., including 149000 mu of rice land and 32000 mu of corn land.

According to the official website of the National Leading Group Office for Southern Breeding, which is responsible for leading and coordinating the southern breeding base, more than 5000 crop varieties have been bred in China since the founding of the People's Republic of China, 80% of which have been bred in southern breeding. South China seed breeding has made great contributions to the national seed improvement and upgrading, and played an important role in ensuring national food security, ensuring the sale of agricultural products (8.96, -0.03, -0.33%), and promoting agricultural development.

The seed industry evaluated the South Breeding Base as an "accelerator" for new variety breeding; Ensure the "regulation pool" of production seeds; "Identification room" for natural seed quality; "Booster" to promote Hainan's economic development.

Tong Pingya said that when the illegal experimental planting is open, it can pollute the surrounding conventional breeding varieties, including the surrounding environment. If the contaminated conventional seeds are planted in the Hexi Corridor, the core seed production base in China, they will pollute each other. Theoretically, they will pollute China's corn seed industry, so there will be no pure corn seeds.

The above senior seed industry personnel and Tong Pingya believed that the enterprises and units violating the regulations should not be fined and notified internally, but should be revoked their seed production licenses and kicked out of the seed industry in accordance with the Seed Law of the People's Republic of China, the Regulations on the Safety Management of Agricultural Genetically Modified Organisms and other management regulations.

So far, the Ministry of Agriculture has not made a statement. Cui Yongyuan, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, asked the Ministry of Agriculture to disclose the information about the investigation and punishment of illegal transgenic experiments through microblogging "Daily Call".

Source: 21st Century Economic Report