Why do the public fear GM rice?

A nettext entitled "Semi-semen abnormalities in a random sample of men in Guangxi, rumors of long-term planting of genetically modified corn" has caused public panic in recent days.

This article, widely spread on the Internet and signed by Zhang Hongliang, states: “The negative news about GM foods that have been transmitted to all countries in the world so far is all the adverse reactions of rats after eating. The only thing that comes from China is the quality of college students' semen. Abnormal report."

There was a “shocking secret” circulating in the square: Guangxi people eat genetically modified corn, and half of the men cannot have children!

The argument that Guangxi seized half of the semen in boys was indeed proven. Liang Jihong, director of male subjects at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University and colleagues have investigated the semen of boys from more than 200 colleges and universities in Guangxi and found that 56.7% of them had abnormal semen quality.

However, this reporter learned from Liang Qihong's assistants that the online article misinterpreted their research. In fact, their investigations have nothing to do with genetically modified corn.

Liang Jihong, interviewed by the Guangxi Southern Media “Nanguo Jinbao” in November 2009, stressed that semen abnormality does not necessarily mean that there is no fertility; half of males have abnormal semen, and it is estimated that college students who use the sedentary web to increase the local temperature in the scrotum and unhealthy eating habits , environmental factors and so on. The decline in semen quality is not just a problem for college students in Guangxi, and men in many parts of the world are plagued by this.

More importantly, according to information from the Chinese agricultural sector and the US Monsanto Company, Monsanto promotes hybrid corn in Guangxi, not genetically modified corn. It can be seen that genetically modified corn has caused a decline in the fertility of males in Guangxi and is an outright rumors.

However, this sensational title and language with exaggerated colors catered to the public's already misunderstood and fearful emotions in the genetically modified industry, and it increasingly made people think of genetically modified technology as a scourge.

Nowadays, in many online communities, netizens are almost completely opposed to genetically modified foods including genetically modified rice.

A researcher from the Chinese Academy of Sciences surveyed consumers in Nanjing and other cities about the acceptability of genetically modified foods and found that about two-thirds of consumers were willing to eat genetically modified foods before 7.8 years ago. By last year, this figure had fallen to 40%. More, "in a few years, perhaps only 10% will remain."

Loopholes in the regulatory aspects of genetic modification have further deepened public concerns about the safety of genetically modified organisms. So far, China has not approved any kind of genetically modified staple foods to enter commercial production, and private cultivation is illegal. The international environmental organization Greenpeace disclosed the emergence of illicit cultivation and sales of genetically modified rice in Hubei five years ago. On March 15 this year, the chain of illegally grown GM rice from the rice fields to the people’s table was not interrupted. The transgenic rice was detected at Fruit Lake Road Store in Wuhan City and Huangxing South Road in Changsha City, Hunan Province.

In March this year, a reporter from the magazine surveyed Zhongzhou Village, Wulijie Town, Jiangxia District, Wuhan City, and some local farmers said that some people in the village secretly planted genetically modified rice. The insect-resistant protein gene was introduced into the transgenic rice, and pesticides were not used during the growth process, so it was popular among farmers.

It is intriguing that some of the farmers do not trust GM rice. Their logic is simple: insects do not eat, how can anyone eat? Therefore, all the GM rice they harvested were sold on the market and they did not dare to eat it.

During the "two sessions" this year, the confrontation between antagonists and supporters of GM foods reached a new climax. Opponents took the form of “on the bus to write a book”, passed the deputies of the people’s congresses and members of the CPPCC to write proposals and proposals, and demanded that the commercialization of genetically modified rice should be suspended. The supporters were very anxious and began to discuss how to establish a long-term mechanism for communicating with the public.

At present, among the 16 national major science and technology projects, the cultivation of new varieties of genetically modified organisms is the only agricultural project that has been selected. The investment in the next decade will reach more than 20 billion yuan. Premier Wen Jiabao of the State Council also emphasized in the government work report that it is necessary to implement the major science and technology special projects for the cultivation of new varieties of GMOs. If Chinese consumers do not accept genetically modified crops, it means that billions of dollars of research and development costs will be lost, and the entire biotechnology industry will also suffer serious setbacks.

Why is the public's acceptance of genetically modified foods rapidly declining while the government's investment has increased sharply?

Security certificate storm

After news of the security certificate of genetically modified rice came out, it was like a gun barrel was lit

One day in November 2009, Wuhan, Hubei, Huazhong Agricultural University administrative building conference room on the third floor. The safety certificates for the two transgenic rice were awarded to the school’s research team.

This is a more historic moment than the Olympics ceremony. It is the first time in China to issue a production and application safety certificate for genetically modified rice.

Transgenic rice is the result of the application of transgenic technology to rice breeding. The research team led by Zhang Qilu, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, inserted the soil crystal bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) insecticidal crystal protein gene into the inheritance of Huahui 1 and Shanyou 63 hybrid rice. In the material DNA, the Bt insect-resistant protein is produced in rice, which helps to kill a variety of grain-feeding codling moth pests.