ROW ERUPTS IN CHINA OVER IMPACT OF TRANSGENIC COTTON

June 4, 2002
Dow Jones Newswires (Via Agnet)
By Phelim Kyne

BEIJING-A Chinese government-funded report that alleges genetically
modified Bt cotton strains introduced by U.S. agribusiness giant Monsanto
(MON) have damaged the environment and provide few long-term agricultural
benefits has, according to this story, provoked protest within China's
scientific community.

The report, produced by a State Environment Protection Administration
research institute in cooperation with international environmental lobby
group Greenpeace, argues Monsanto's Bt cotton has destabilized China's
insect ecology and caused continued farmer reliance on chemical
pesticides.

The research study, cited in the official China Daily newspaper, found
that genetically modified Bt cotton, designed to control bollworm, is
encouraging the spread of other types of insect pests. The study by the
Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences also concluded that cotton
bollworm will possibly develop resistance to the genetically modified
cotton within eight to 10 years.

The story says that China Academy of Sciences is understood to be
currently preparing a paper for China's leadership that refutes the
allegations in the Nanjing study and chastises the State Environment
Protection Agency for working with Greenpeace. The controversy is only the
latest to affect China`s attempts to regulate genetically modified
agricultural products and agricultural biotechnology. Since January, four
government ministries in China have implemented or began formulating rules
to regulate the import of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.