2 Breeding grounds and germplasm resources contamination Illegal plantations of GE corn have a high possibility of contaminating existing corn genetic resources, which would contaminate China’s native high yield and stress resistance conventional crop strains. If these conventional crops were to be contaminated, future generations of farmers in China and agricultural researchers would be restricted by the control of foreign patents. 3
An infringement on citizens’ right to know and right to choose According to the third article of ‘Regulations on Administration of Agricultural Genetically Modified Organisms Safety’, any products which contain traces of GE crops must be labelled as such.5 The grain storehouses and production plants in Liaoning province have not carried out any tests for GE. Therefore, it is extremely likely that illegal GE corn has entered the market while avoiding the above legal requirement of GE labelling. This is a major infringement on citizens’ right to know and right to choose. Currently, GE corn imported into China can only be used as raw material rather than for direct consumption.6 But with the circulation of illegal GE corn, the public are exposed to a far greater risk of consuming GE.
4 Illegal GE corn has entered the processing industry From looking at the distribution of corn, it is extremely likely that illegal GE corn has already entered people’s lives on a large scale. This is particularly likely to have happened via processed foods, starch, alcohol and other food and medical products. 5
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Impact on industrial safety, food security and sovereignty The illegal GE corn species identified by this investigation have all already received patent authorisation in China.7 Once related species enter the Chinese commercial cultivation, farmers of these species could have to pay much higher prices for seeds, which could raise the cost of agricultural goods and expenses for consumers. Once commercial cultivation of corn is influenced by international companies’ GE corn, grain prices could fluctuate and national food security and food sovereignty would suffer.
‘Regulations on Administration of Agricultural Genetically Modified Organisms Safety’, the Ministry of Agriculture ordered No. 10 and No. 38 to be revised on 5 January 2002 and 1 July 2004, respectively. 6 http://www.moa.gov.cn/ztzl/zjyqwgz/zswd/201304/t20130427_3446861.htm 7 The patent holders for the Mon810, NK603, Bt11 and TC1507 strains of corn are international companies Monsanto, Syngenta and Du Pont. 3