Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
was no dif erence between the normal fed
group and that fed with cooked GM rice,
indicating that Bt transgenic rice lost its
toxicity to silkworms when the Bt toxin
protein was denatured by cooking (Wang
et
al
., 2002a; see also Chapters 5 and 6).
low probability of inducing allergenic re-
actions (see Chapter 3).
introduced genes
With advances in genetic transformation
technology, horizontal transformation of
introduced antibiotic genes will not be a
threat to public health. On the basis of the
regulations from the Ministry of Agriculture,
GM plants with antibiotic gene markers will
not be approved for production in China.
Animal feeding trials (90 days) in rodents
have been recommended by the FAO/WHO
for risk assessment (toxicity testing) of GM
plants (FAO, 2001). According to the
industry standard 'Safety assessment of
genetically modii ed plant and derived
products' issued by the Ministry of
Agriculture in China, 90-day feeding trials
are also required for the safety assessment
of food/feed from GM plants. Wang
et al
.
(2002b) conducted a 90-day feeding trial to
evaluate the toxicology of transgenic rice
l our with a synthetic
cry1Ab
gene and no
toxic ef ect was detected. To assess the
teratogenicity of GM rice, rats were fed for
90 days with transgenic rice that expressed
the insecticidal proteins, CpTI and Xa21.
h ey concluded that this transgenic rice had
no maternal toxicity, embryotoxicity or
teratogenicity (Li
et al
., 2004b; Zhuo
et al
.,
2004). h e subchronic toxicity of transgenic
high-lysine maize was assessed by feeding
rats for 90 days, and the results showed that
the GM maize had no harmful ef ects on the
growth and nutrition of the rats (Tang,
2008; see also Chapters 3 and 5).
of GM Plant Safety in Asia
Most Asian countries have guidelines for
research on genetically modii ed organisms
(GMOs), and some countries have set up a
series of regulations or administrative
measures for the management of the
biosafety of GM plants and their products
(see also Chapter 3).
China has implemented a series of
regulations related to GM crops since the
1990s. In 1993, the then State Science and
Technology Commission issued the
'Administrative Measures on the Safety of
Genetic Engineering'. An initial legal
framework on GMO regulation was then
established. In 2001, the State Council
passed new 'Regulations on Administration
of Agricultural Genetically Modii ed Organ-
isms Safety'
(http://www.biosafety.gov.cn/
image20010518/5420.pdf
), which aimed to
enhance the biosafety management of
GMOs during the activities of research,
experimentation, production, processing,
marketing, importation and exportation.
What is noteworthy about this regulation is
that, i rst, it is a regulation, not ministerial
administrative measures, which means that
it is more comprehensive in nature. Second,
it was not issued by the Ministry of
Agriculture but by the superior authority,
the State Council. h is change enhanced the
legal ef ect of the act.
In order to implement this regulation,
the Ministry of Agriculture subsequently
With regards to introduced protein, the
hygromycin B phosphotransferase gene
(
hpt
) has been widely used as a selectable
marker in the process of plant genetic
engineering. Lu
et al
. (2007) conducted
in
vitro
digestibility and animal studies to
assess the safety of GM plants. h e feeding
HPT protein was digested by simulated
gastric l uid within 40 s, and the protein did
not induce detectable levels of serum-
specii c IgE antibodies or histamine in the
test animals. h ey concluded that HPT had a
