Experts respond to GM controversy: Whether it is safe depends on what is being transformed

"although we have made a lot of progress in transgenic technology, it is still far from the requirement of 'occupying the commanding heights of transgenic technology'." Ke Bingsheng, president of China Agricultural University, said in an interview on the people's Daily on the 30th.

There has been a lot of controversy about GM in recent years. As president of an agricultural university, when asked about GM, he usually says five points: first, transgenic technology is extremely important and has great potential; second, whether "genetically modified products" are safe or not can not be generalized, depending on what genes are transferred. It's a bit like mushrooms, some can eat, some can't. Therefore, the government should carry out regulatory examination and approval; third, "genetically modified food" has been scientifically tested and approved to be produced and listed, which is equivalent to mushrooms in supermarkets and is safe; fourth, the United States is the country with the earliest and largest consumption of genetically modified food, and there have never been any safety problems in other countries. Fifth, all the authoritative organizations related to food safety in the world, including the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the food safety regulatory departments of the United States, Europe and Japan, and the organizations of scientists' societies of various countries, there is no dispute over the safety of GM foods that have been on the market.

Ke Bingsheng said: biotechnology occupies a very important position in the modern agricultural technology system, and has great potential in increasing output, improving quality, reducing investment, and improving efficiency. It is normal for ordinary people to have all kinds of misgivings about new technologies such as transgenic. Ke Bingsheng said that in recent years, there has been a lot of progress in the popularization of genetically modified science, and more and more people have a rational understanding of the issue of genetically modified genes. It is very important to continue to strengthen the work of science popularization. However, what is more important than popular science may be in scientific research.

Ke Bingsheng said that in China's current market, the foods related to GM are papaya as well as some soybean oil and rapeseed oil. For agricultural colleges and universities, including China Agricultural University, the most important task is to strive to carry out independent innovation, to make breakthroughs in biotechnology, and to obtain safe new genetically modified varieties with excellent characteristics, and after strict safety inspection and approval, it is used in production.