Rules on Transgenic Farm Products Take Effect in China

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, March 21, 2002

Rules on Transgenic Farm Products Take Effect in China

Three regulations went into effect Wednesday for improving management of transgenic agricultural products in China. The regulations aim to better regulate research, production and sales activities of transgenic agricultural products and ensure their safety, according MOA sources.

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New regulations go into effect

Three regulations went into effect Wednesday for improving management of transgenic agricultural products in China, said sources from the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA).

The regulations aim to better regulate research, production and sales activities of transgenic agricultural products and ensure their safety, according MOA sources.

Legal framework established

As a follow-up to the "regulation on the safety of transgenic farm produce" issued by the State Council last year, these regulations have constituted a legal framework to ensure safety of transgenic products and will be conducive to the further advancement of biotechnology, preservation of the ecological environment and betterment of human health.

Sources said China will follow the internationally accepted standards in evaluating the safety of these products and grant national treatment to foreign enterprises.

The regulations have been drafted and promulgated in line with WTO procedures and China's own commitments. For example, a 70-day preparation period has been set aside before their official implementation.

About transgenic crop plant

A transgenic crop plant contains a gene or genes which have been artificially inserted instead of the plant acquiring them through pollination. The inserted gene sequence (known as the transgene) may come from another unrelated plant, or from a completely different species: transgenic Bt corn, for example, which produces its own insecticide, contains a gene from a bacterium. Plants containing transgenes are often called genetically modified or GM crops, although in reality all crops have been genetically modified from their original wild state by domestication, selection and controlled breeding over long periods of time. On this web site we will use the term transgenic to describe a crop plant which has transgenes inserted.

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