Letter from the Ministry of Agriculture urgently cleans genetically modified

It was learned that a letter requiring “the breeder to clean up genetically modified breeding materials as soon as possible” was sent last week to some breeding experts and seed entrepreneurs in the country. The “National Maize Industry Technology R&D Center” affiliated to the Ministry of Agriculture was issued.

A company official who was informed about the contents of the e-mail revealed that the letter asked domestic breeding experts and seed companies to “screen all the breeding materials imported from foreign countries” as soon as possible, firstly distinguish between genetically modified and non-genetically modified materials, and then completely separate the two. Manage and use separately.

The letter also suggested that research institutes that undertake national GM safety assessment projects should develop a simple, rapid, low-cost, and high-throughput screening technology as soon as possible for the initial screening of breeding materials by grassroots scientific research units; training courses are also held. Breeders promote GM screening technology.

Since the early summer of 2010, the Ministry of Agriculture has successively detected a number of genetically modified corn varieties that are in the market in violation of regulations, and subsequently ordered the violating breeders to stop production and sales. The National Maize Industry Technology Research and Development Center pointed out in the aforementioned letter that once these genetically modified seed resources have blindly flowed into breeding projects, they will spread and infiltrate. “In a few years, breeding materials with unknown origins will spread and infiltrate in an uncontrolled manner. It will become more and more chaotic and difficult to control."

The gentle punishment of 2010 was the Year of Seed Enforcement of the Ministry of Agriculture. According to informed sources, the Ministry of Agriculture had interviewed all the breeding experts and companies that had violated the operation of genetically modified commercial products, and had done a more rigorous treatment, but had been tight-lipped about the outside world.

According to the person familiar with the matter, the Ministry of Agriculture initially categorized violations of companies and breeding experts as "fraudulent acts." The approach was "not able to apply for variety approval within three years," and severely violating regulations would be revoked. However, the final treatment is only to limit the production of illegal varieties and stop the production of illegal seeds for one year.

It is understood that due to violations of GM maize varieties that were disclosed in a small area among a series of phased-out corn varieties, the Ministry of Agriculture did not mention the names of "transgenic" and illegal breeders in the relevant stakeholders' documents. .

Although the Ministry of Agriculture managed to maintain a “low profile”, it was still pointed out by industry insiders that in the batch of corn elimination products announced by the Ministry of Agriculture in December last year, “Denghai 3686”, “China Agriculture University No. 4” and “Zhongnongda 236”, "Tieyan 124" and other four varieties belong to genetically modified varieties.

The breeders of three of the four illegal genetically modified corn varieties are well-known breeding experts in China. Li Denghai, a breeder of Denghai 3686, is the board chairman of the listed company Denghai Seeds (20.28, 0.18, 0.90%). “Zhong Nong Da 4” is an academician from the Chinese Academy of Engineering Dai Jingrui. He is the leader of the implementation expert group for the corn project of China's agricultural bio-transgenic major project. Wang Shoucai, a breeder of the Zhongnong 236, is the deputy director of the Maize Professional Committee of the National Crop Variety Approval Committee.

In the above letter, the National Maize Industry Technology Research and Development Center also mentioned that some of the breeders seized were due to a lack of social responsibility and legal awareness. They have drilled a flawed policy when applying for a variety of examinations. Very few, but they are defying laws and regulations for their own trials, and they belong to the "known guilty."

The National Maize Industry Technology Research and Development Center also acknowledged that the non-proliferation of genetically modified corn varieties is a serious threat to China's conventional maize breeding, and it is necessary to prevent the occurrence of "in Liaoning Tieling as innocent transgenic events."

According to the above-mentioned informed sources, the so-called “Tieling Event in Liaoning Tieling” refers to the genetically modified corn variety “Tieyan 124” that was also investigated and punished. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the breeder of the breed, the Tieling City Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Liaoning Province, unknowingly imported the foreign genetically modified seed resources, resulting in the cultivation of corn varieties that actually contain genetically modified components. The crimes committed by the land are different from those of other agencies.

Emergency cleanup Although these "unconscious mistakes" of breeding experts and companies are unaware of the introduction of foreign genetically modified seed resources, the consequences are very serious.

The National Maize Industry Technology Research and Development Center stated in the above-mentioned letter that “uninformed introduction of genetically modified components is more difficult to manage than the introduction of the genetically-informed, and the harm is more serious”, and these genetic seed resources “will infiltrate penetration once they blindly flow into the breeding program”. The effect is snowballing, and the bigger it gets.

In order to control the spread of genetically modified seed resources, the National Maize Industry Technology Research and Development Center urgently requires domestic breeders and seed companies to "completely screen breeding materials imported from abroad," and to "discriminate genetically modified and non-genetically modified materials" first. The "general isolation of conventional breeding materials and genetically modified materials" and "management and use separately."

According to the aforementioned informed sources, the cost of genetic screening is relatively high, and the total detection cost of each breeding material is approximately 1,000 yuan. For seed companies, if they are to be completed in accordance with the requirements of the National Maize Industry Technology Research and Development Center, the company The cost will be high.

A domestic seed entrepreneur also said that even more serious is that a few genetically modified seed resources of uninformed companies are mixed in a large number of unknown materials. If companies want to screen it again, they will have to go through all possible materials. . The seeds of most of the breeding companies have thousands of samples of seed materials in their seed banks, making it easier to screen them all over again.

In this regard, the National Maize Industry Technology Research and Development Center stated in a letter that, although the current “high cost of genetic screening” for breeding companies is relatively high, it is now possible for hands-on screening to “pay a smaller price”. Otherwise, in the next few years, breeding materials will become more and more chaotic and difficult to control, as uncontrolled breeding materials spread and penetrate in an uncontrolled manner."

Therefore, for the sustainable development of crossbreeding in China's corn, “to save the good hybrids that are immersed in transgenes because of their unwitting knowledge”, the Center recommends that seed companies and local breeders screen their own breeding materials as soon as possible and demand that they undertake national genetically modified safety. The scientific research unit of the evaluation project will develop a simple, rapid, low-cost and high-throughput screening technology as soon as possible for the initial screening of breeding materials by grassroots scientific research units. At the same time, training programs will be held to promote genetic screening technology for breeders.

The National Maize Industry Technology Research and Development Center also revealed in the letter that it is expected that the country’s management of genetically modified organisms will become more stringent and that non-compliance operations will be punished.