GMO China: How Global Debates Transformed China’s Agricultural Biotechnology Policies

311 Pages·2018·2.85 MB·English

by  Cong Cao

G MO CHINA
HOW GLOBAL DEBATES
TRANSFORMED
CHINA’S AGRICULTURAL
BIOTECHNOLOGY POLICIES
CONG CAO
GMO CHINA
Contemporary Asia in the World
CONTEMPORARY ASIA IN THE WORLD
David C. Kang and Victor D. Cha, Editors
This series aims to address a gap in the public-policy and scholarly discussion of Asia. It
seeks to promote books and studies that are on the cutting edge of their disciplines or
promote multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary research but are also accessible to a wider
readership. The editors seek to showcase the best scholarly and public-policy arguments
on Asia from any field, including politics, history, economics, and cultural studies.
Beyond the Final Score: The Politics of Sport in Asia, Victor D. Cha, 2008
The Power of the Internet in China: Citizen Activism Online, Guobin Yang, 2009
China and India: Prospects for Peace, Jonathan Holslag, 2010
India, Pakistan, and the Bomb: Debating Nuclear Stability in South Asia, Šumit Ganguly and
S. Paul Kapur, 2010
Living with the Dragon: How the American Public Views the Rise of China, Benjamin I. Page
and Tao Xie, 2010
East Asia Before the West: Five Centuries of Trade and Tribute, David C. Kang, 2010
Harmony and War: Confucian Culture and Chinese Power Politics, Yuan-kang Wang, 2011
Strong Society, Smart State: The Rise of Public Opinion in China’s Japan Policy, James Reilly, 2012
Asia’s Space Race: National Motivations, Regional Rivalries, and International Risks, James
Clay Moltz, 2012
Never Forget National Humiliation: Historical Memory in Chinese Politics and Foreign Relations,
Zheng Wang, 2012
Green Innovation in China: China’s Wind Power Industry and the Global Transition to a Low-Carbon
Economy, Joanna I. Lewis, 2013
The Great Kanto- Earthquake and the Chimera of National Reconstruction in Japan, J. Charles
Schencking, 2013
Security and Profit in China’s Energy Policy: Hedging Against Risk, Øystein Tunsjø, 2013
Return of the Dragon: Rising China and Regional Security, Denny Roy, 2013
Contemporary Japanese Politics: Institutional Changes and Power Shifts, Tomohito Shinoda, 2013
Contentious Activism and Inter-Korean Relations, Danielle L. Chubb, 2014
Dams and Development in China: The Moral Economy of Water and Power, Bryan Tilt, 2014
Marching Through Suffering: Loss and Survival in North Korea, Sandra Fahy, 2015
The Japan–South Korea Identity Clash: East Asian Security and the United States, Brad
Glosserman and Scott A. Snyder, 2015
Nation at Play: A History of Sport in India, Ronojoy Sen, 2015
The China Boom: Why China Will Not Rule the World, Ho-fung Hung, 2015
Japan’s Security Renaissance: New Policies and Politics for the Twenty-First Century, Andrew L. Oros,
2017
Japan, South Korea, and the United States Nuclear Umbrella: Deterrence After the Cold War,
Terrence Roehrig, 2017
GMO China
HOW GLOBAL DEBATES TRANSFORMED
CHINA’S AGRICULTURAL
BIOTECHNOLOGY POLICIES
Cong Cao
Columbia University Press
New York
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup.columbia.edu
Copyright © 2018 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Cao, Cong, 1959– author.
Title: GMO China : how global debates transformed China’s agricultural
biotechnology policies / Cong Cao.
Description: New York : Columbia University Press, [2018] |
Series: Contemporary Asia in the world | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018012329| ISBN 9780231171663 (cloth : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780231171670 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780231541091 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Agricultural biotechnology—Government policy—China. |
Transgenic organisms—Government policy—China.
Classification: LCC S494.5.B563 C35 2018 | DDC 338.1/60951—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018012329
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent
and durable acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America
Cover design: Lisa Hamm
Cover image: © Tony Hertz/Alamy Stock Photo
Contents
Abbreviations vii
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction xv
i Transgenic Technology and GMO Controversies 1
ii Global GMO Policy 14
iii Research and Commercialization of GM Crops in China 39
iv Science, Biosafety, and Regulations 76
v Polarization and Politicization of Transgenic Technology 105
vi The Chinese Media and Changing Policy 129
vii Patents and China’s Bt Rice 155
viii China as a GMO Nation 177
Notes 201
Bibliography 245
Index 273
[ v ]

Abbreviations
APHIS U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal Plant Health
Inspection Service
ARPA Agricultural Risk Protection Act
BRAIB Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill
BSE bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as mad
cow disease
Bt Bacillus thuringiensis
CAAS Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
CAE Chinese Academy of Engineering
CAS Chinese Academy of Sciences
CASS Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
CBD Convention on Biological Diversity
CCAP Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy
CCP Chinese Communist Party
CCPCC Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee
CCTV China Central Television Station
CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
CFDA China Food and Drug Administration
CGIAR Consultative Group on International Agricultural
Research
CJD Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease
CPPCC Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference
[ vii ]
CRISPR clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats
DBT India Department of Biotechnology
DNA deoxyribonucleic acid
EC European Commission
EFSA European Food Safety Authority
EPA U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
ESA U.S. Endangered Species Act
FSSA India Food Safety and Standard Authority
EU European Union
FDA U.S. Food and Drug Administration
FFDCA U.S. Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act
FIFRA U.S. Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act
FSSA India Food Safety and Standard Authority
GAQSIQ China General Administration of Quality Supervision,
Inspection and Quarantine
GEAC India Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee, and later
Genetic Engineering Advisory Committee
GEO gene-edited organism
GM genetically modified
GMA U.S. Grocery Manufacturers Association
GMMP genetically modified microbial pesticide
GMO genetically modified organism
IARC International Agency for Research on Cancer under
World Health Organization
IHGP International Human Genome Project
IP intellectual property
IPR intellectual property right
ISAAA International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech
Applications
JMC Joint Ministerial Conference, a mechanism within China’s
State Council
LMO live modified organism
MEP Mega-Engineering Program under China Medium- and
Long-Term Plan for the Development of Science and
Technology (2006−2020)
MLP Medium- and Long-Term Plan for the Development of
Science and Technology (2006−2020)
[ viii ] ABBREVIATIONS
MNC multinational corporation
MOA China/India Ministry of Agriculture
MOE China Ministry of Education
MOEF India Ministry of Environment and Forests
MOEP China Ministry of Environmental Protection
MOF China Ministry of Finance
MOFCOM China Ministry of Commerce
MOIIT China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
MOST China/India Ministry of Science and Technology
MSP Mega-Science Program under China Medium- and Long-
Term Plan for the Development of Science and Technol-
ogy (2006−2020)
NAS U.S. National Academy of Sciences
NBCAGMO China National Biosafety Committee on Agricultural
Genetically Modified Organisms
NDA India National Democratic Alliance
NDRC China National Development and Reform Commission
NEPA U.S. National Environmental Policy Act
NGO nongovernmental organization
NHFPC China National Health and Family Planning Commission
NIH U.S. National Institutes of Health
NOC no objection certificate
NOS nopaline synthase
NPC China National People’s Congress
NSFC National Natural Science Foundation of China
OAGEBA China Office of Agricultural Genetic Engineering Bio-
safety Administration
OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development
OSTP U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy
PIP plant-incorporated protectant
PLA China People’s Liberation Army
PPA U.S. Plant Protection Act
R&D research and development
rDNA recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid
RNA ribonucleic acid
S&T science and technology
SAF China State Administration for Forestry
ABBREVIATIONS [ ix ]