www.raupp.info

China could be the first country in the world to approve genetically
modified (GM) rice, September 2005.

The State Agricultural GM Crop Biosafety Committe, the technical body
which evaluates GM rice for research and marketing, is likely to meet in
November, according to insiders - and Chinese scientists are confident
of the progress they have made.

On the agenda will be four varieties of GM rice developed by Chinese
scientists - three insect-resistant varieties and a fourth which can
withstand bacterial blight. The four breeds have been undergoing
pre-production safety evaluation since last December and the committee's
decision is the last step before commercialization. "China's GM rice
technologies lead the world and they are very mature for
commercialization," said Zhen Zhu, a leading rice scientist and deputy
director of the Bureau of Life Sciences and Biotechnology at the Chinese
Academy of Sciences (CAS).

A research report published in the prestigious Science magazine revealed
that insect-resistant GM rice reduces pesticide use by nearly 80 per
cent. Also, the yield goes up by 6-9 per cent.

[www.asiapulse.com]

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