GM rice test on Chinese children was not approved: authorities
Two Chinese provinces involved in a controversial human experiment of
genetically modified rice said the time and location of the test was not
approved.
Authorities are investigating whether dozens of children in central China's Hunan province were used as test subjects in a US-China joint research project in 2008 that included GM food Golden Rice.
A senior official with the Hunan provincial health department maintained that any human experiments of GM food in Hunan should get approval from the provincial health and agriculture authorities. But the joint experiment did not.
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention in an earlier statement said the experiment of GM rice on local children was approved by the Zhejiang Provincial Academy of Medical Sciences' ethical board.
But the Zhejiang institute said the experiment, approved in 2003, did not take place during the "approved" time range between March 1, 2004 and Feb. 28, 2005, the institute's deputy head Ni Ya told Xinhua.
The institute's ethical board demanded that the human test subjects be fully notified and give their consent before the experiment could take place, Ni added. It is still being investigated whether parents of the children were notified of the GM rice experiment.
Ni said the application was filed by the institute's researcher Wang Yin, who participated in the Tufts University-led research, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health in the US.
Environmental activist group Greenpeace broke the news on the controversial test in late August, saying that the joint research involved feeding Golden Rice, genetically modified to be rich in beta carotene, to 24 children aged between six and eight years old in Hunan in 2008. It cited a paper published in the August edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The paper claimed that Golden Rice is effective in providing vitamin A to children. Its lead author Tang Guangwen, director of the Carotenoids and Health Laboratory of Tufts University, insisted that the study had been conducted with all regulatory approvals required by each country.
The Hunan health official said there was one approved experiment — led by China CDC with the participation of the Zhejiang Provincial Academy of Medical Sciences and the Hunan CDC, but it did not involve GM rice.
The China CDC said its research focused on the transformation of beta carotene in vegetables to vitamin A in children's bodies. Its fellow researcher Yin Shi'an combined the experiment with Tufts University's research because "both covered studies on beta carotene in spinach." China CDC's statement said its researcher was not informed at the time that the American side had used GM rice in the experiment.
Yin was the third author in the US-published paper. Hu Yuming with the Hunan CDC, the second author, had earlier denied acknowledgement of any involvement in the GM rice experiment, according to media reports.
The China CDC said parents of the children participating in the institute's research that did not involve GM food had signed the letter of consent.
GM food is controversial as there is still no scientific consensus on whether or not it is harmful to the human body. According to the Greenpeace website, it is simply not known whether genetically engineered crops are safe for human or animal consumption. Independent scientific studies on the matter are severely lacking, it said.
"Children and infants are particularly sensitive to any possible health effects of genetically engineered rice," it added.
The Chinese government introduced a regulation in 2001 to ensure the safety of GM food, with strict provisions for researching, testing, producing and marketing such products. According to the regulation, parties conducting GM agricultural experiments should have certain qualifications and form a panel to be in charge of the safety of the experiments.
It also provides that any China-foreign GM agricultural experiment should be approved by the government's agricultural departments.
The China CDC said the investigation is yet to be concluded.
http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?
 |
Students eat their school lunch at an elementary school in Heilongjiang. (File photo/Xinhua)
|
Authorities are investigating whether dozens of children in central China's Hunan province were used as test subjects in a US-China joint research project in 2008 that included GM food Golden Rice.
A senior official with the Hunan provincial health department maintained that any human experiments of GM food in Hunan should get approval from the provincial health and agriculture authorities. But the joint experiment did not.
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention in an earlier statement said the experiment of GM rice on local children was approved by the Zhejiang Provincial Academy of Medical Sciences' ethical board.
But the Zhejiang institute said the experiment, approved in 2003, did not take place during the "approved" time range between March 1, 2004 and Feb. 28, 2005, the institute's deputy head Ni Ya told Xinhua.
The institute's ethical board demanded that the human test subjects be fully notified and give their consent before the experiment could take place, Ni added. It is still being investigated whether parents of the children were notified of the GM rice experiment.
Ni said the application was filed by the institute's researcher Wang Yin, who participated in the Tufts University-led research, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health in the US.
Environmental activist group Greenpeace broke the news on the controversial test in late August, saying that the joint research involved feeding Golden Rice, genetically modified to be rich in beta carotene, to 24 children aged between six and eight years old in Hunan in 2008. It cited a paper published in the August edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The paper claimed that Golden Rice is effective in providing vitamin A to children. Its lead author Tang Guangwen, director of the Carotenoids and Health Laboratory of Tufts University, insisted that the study had been conducted with all regulatory approvals required by each country.
The Hunan health official said there was one approved experiment — led by China CDC with the participation of the Zhejiang Provincial Academy of Medical Sciences and the Hunan CDC, but it did not involve GM rice.
The China CDC said its research focused on the transformation of beta carotene in vegetables to vitamin A in children's bodies. Its fellow researcher Yin Shi'an combined the experiment with Tufts University's research because "both covered studies on beta carotene in spinach." China CDC's statement said its researcher was not informed at the time that the American side had used GM rice in the experiment.
Yin was the third author in the US-published paper. Hu Yuming with the Hunan CDC, the second author, had earlier denied acknowledgement of any involvement in the GM rice experiment, according to media reports.
The China CDC said parents of the children participating in the institute's research that did not involve GM food had signed the letter of consent.
GM food is controversial as there is still no scientific consensus on whether or not it is harmful to the human body. According to the Greenpeace website, it is simply not known whether genetically engineered crops are safe for human or animal consumption. Independent scientific studies on the matter are severely lacking, it said.
"Children and infants are particularly sensitive to any possible health effects of genetically engineered rice," it added.
The Chinese government introduced a regulation in 2001 to ensure the safety of GM food, with strict provisions for researching, testing, producing and marketing such products. According to the regulation, parties conducting GM agricultural experiments should have certain qualifications and form a panel to be in charge of the safety of the experiments.
It also provides that any China-foreign GM agricultural experiment should be approved by the government's agricultural departments.
The China CDC said the investigation is yet to be concluded.
http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?
