China, the world's biggest producer and consumer of rice, is close to approving a genetically modified version of the staple, a state newspaper said on Thursday, but scientists denied any breakthrough was imminent.
The China Daily said the State Agricultural GMO Crop Biosafety Committee, the technical body which evaluates GM rice for research and marketing, would likely meet in November and that China could become the first country to approve large-scale planting of GMO rice.
"GM rice set for go-ahead," was the headline. But scientists and environmentalists told Reuters that caution was the watchword and no decision was expected soon.
"The government is serious about examining GMO rice safety issues or the impact on the environment and they want to make sure everything is fine," Jikun Huang, a pro-GMO scientist at the China Academy of Sciences, told Reuters.
"Given this situation, I personally think it (a decision in November) is not very likely."
Pressure to launch GMO rice in China comes at a time when the country is facing a tough task in raising urban grain output and narrowing the income gap between farmers and urban citizens.
Rice is a staple for most of the country. Proponents of genetically modified crops say they will improve yield and reduce plants' vulnerability to pests.
Opponents say pests will develop greater resistance to the modified crops, and that the techniques undermine biodiversity and could prove dangerous for human consumption.
Environmental group Greenpeace said in June GMO rice had been found illegally at grain wholesalers in south China, even though it had not gone through safety testing or been approved by the government.
A senior official at the agricultural ministry's GMO office said it was receiving applications from research institutions for safety evaluation and any result expected from the meeting was "guesswork".
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