Why is China destroying GM crops and refusing shipments from the US to protect their people?

Expert response from Judy (Qinfang) Wang

Senior Manager, Biotech Affairs and Regulatory

Tuesday, 03/12/2013 17:21

I’m not aware that China has destroyed GM crops for safety reasons, as you imply, but there have been isolated reports of U.S. commodity shipments being reviewed by Chinese authorities for questions about paperwork and approvals. However, this handful of incidents is a very small part of the amount of grain that China imports from the United States (and other countries that grow GM crops) each year. China is the number-one customer for U.S. soybeans, having purchased 791 million bushels in 2012/2013 and the third-largest importer of U.S. corn, having purchased about 96 million bushels in 2012/2013 (source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agriculture Service Export Sales Reports).

In China, the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) has established very comprehensive GMO safety regulations to supervise biotech crop research, development, field trials, commercial cultivation and import. MOA has granted food and feed import approvals for multiple crops, including canola, sugar beets, soybeans and maize (corn), and has granted numerous cultivation approvals for traits within the country (see this GM Approval Database for specifics). Farmers here grew biotech crops on more than 4 million hectares in 2012―primarily Bt cotton, virus-resistant papaya and Bt poplar. Bt cotton was planted by an estimated 7.2 million Chinese farmers last year.

For more details on adoption of biotech crops in China, click here for a fact sheet developed by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications or ISAAA.