Biosafety certificates permitting Chinese researchers to grow genetically modified rice and corn expired last week, with little indication that the Ministry of Agriculture will renew them. The certificates, issued in 2009, concerned two types of Bt rice, which express a gene of the bacillus thuringiensis bacterium, conferring pest resistance, and phytase maize, which when used…
GM in China: ‘Paranoia’ and public opinion
BEYOND BIOSAFETY
In developing countries, debates around transgenic crops have tended to focus on biosafety and its regulation at the risk of ignoring broader ethical concerns. A new project by the STEPS Centre, is exploring how to open-up these debates among civil society actors. The Institute of Development Studies has featured an article by Sally Brooks, convenor…
NEW PROJECT: BEYOND BIOSAFETY
By Julia Day, STEPS Centre member The STEPS Centre is launching a new pilot project, Beyond Biosafety, aimed at opening up debates about biosafety. The project focusses on Kenya and the Philippines, as two countries that have been seen, at different times, as regional ‘test cases’ for biotechnology and biosafety regulatory development. Debates about…