Chinese government officials yesterday [Wednesday] denied that the government is using its recently announced regulations on labelling genetically modified products as non-tariff barriers to foreign trade.
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“We have made it clear our only goal is to ensure the security of a new biotechnology at the very beginning of introducing our regulations,” said an unnamed official with the Ministry of Agriculture. “Our ministry has taken the move strictly in line with international practice, as a great number of countries, including Japan and some European Union members, have long implemented their own rules on GM foods.”
Meanwhile, Li Tairan, an official with the Ministry of Health, said his ministry has stepped up its overseeing of GM foods with a view to tackling growing concern over the safety and huge consumption of such foods in the country.
The comments came in response to a report by Dow Jones Newswire that indicated that China is trying to shield its farm sector from the bumps of World Trade Organization membership by erecting import barriers for genetically modified agricultural products,
Dow Jones reported Jikun Huang, director of the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy, said the government is concerned that increasing foreign imports will lower the value of soybeans, wheat and maize being produced in northeastern China.
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By GlobalDataBut Huang told China Daily the Dow Jones Newswires misquoted him. “During my interview with the newswire, I repeatedly stressed that the government’s introduction of rules on GM foods is aimed at more effectively controlling the security of the new biotechnology and the safety of such foods,” he said. “These rules have nothing to do with policy barriers to block imports of foreign GM agricultural products.”
The director said he once mentioned that Japan and some European countries have managed to use their regulations on GM foods as non-tariff barriers to protect local farmers, which may set an example to other countries. “But I regret that the Dow Jones Newswires misinterpreted my meaning in a one-sided way by describing a possibility as something that has happened,” Huang said
