From March 16th to 17th, the Japan Daily reported on a continuous basis that supermarkets in Hubei and Hunan provinces were exposed to detect GM rice. Yesterday, the reporter of the “Daily Economic News†was informed that the Agriculture Bureau of Changde City, Hunan Province, has deployed a special law enforcement inspection within the city to find five suspected GM rice varieties, including Wuhan Jiuhuan and Wuhan Huihua. Sannong Seed Industry Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Wuhan Huihua Sannong) and Wuhan Dunhuang Seed Industry Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Dunhuang in Wuhan) are three seed companies.
Among the companies that discovered the sale of these suspected GM rice seeds in this surprise inspection, they involved holdings or joint ventures of several listed companies including Dunhuang Seed Industry (600354, SH), Huiji Group (00610, HK).
Yesterday, the listed companies did not respond positively to the suspected GM rice seed incident. It is understood that the final test results will come out next week.
Or involve a listed company
This time, the special law enforcement inspections originated from the reports of the local people. After the report, the Changde City Agriculture Bureau immediately deployed a special law enforcement inspection within the city. The suspected GM rice seed varieties such as "Hualiangyou 1156", "Yuliangyou 6", "Liyouyou 363" and "Liangyou 036" were identified and sent to the Provincial Department of Agriculture for testing. Related sales stores have also been seized by law enforcement agencies.
The relevant person in charge of the Bureau of Agriculture in Changde City told the “Daily Economic Newsâ€: “We currently have such a special law enforcement activity and have also sampled some products. However, we now have these suspected GM rice varieties. There is no final conclusion."
The reporter found that the three companies that were investigated this time, apart from Wuhan Jiuhuan, the other two companies involved listed companies. Among them, Wuhan Dunhuang is a holding subsidiary of the A-share listed company Dunhuang Seed Industry, and another seed company, Wuhan Huihua Sannong, is a joint venture between Hong Kong listed company Huiji Group and Huazhong Agricultural University.
However, regarding the related situation of the company involved, the Bureau of Agriculture appeared to be very cautious. During the interview it was repeatedly stressed that “the final test results can be used to determine whether it is an illegal genetically modified product.â€
The above-mentioned person in charge also revealed that "the test results may have to wait until next week."
The listed company said it did not know
In fact, after the law enforcement inspection, the Bureau of Agriculture did not notify the relevant company of the inspection. The person in charge of the Changde City Bureau of Agriculture said frankly that, for the sake of insurance, the Bureau of Agriculture will not notify the company of the current inspections until the final results are available.
Subsequently, the reporter called the Dunhuang Seed Industry, but as of press time, the public calls of the Dunhuang Seed Industry have been in a state of no answer.
According to public information, Wuhan Dunhuang was established in November 2004 and is a subsidiary of the A-share listed company Dunhuang Seed Industry. Among them, Dunhuang Seed Industry has acquired 60% of Wuhan Dunhuang. In February, a loan of 20 million yuan was loaned to Wuhan Dunhuang for use in business development.
Another seed company, Wuhan Huihua Sannong, was introduced on its official website. The company is a joint venture company established by Hong Kong Kee Kee Group and Huazhong Agricultural University to develop high-tech agriculture. The Hong Kong Whiskey Group is also a listed company in Hong Kong.
After the reporter dialed the public phone of Wai Kee Group, the relevant staff informed the “Daily Economic Newsâ€: The company currently has no company in Hubei, and the previous company had already transferred to another company as early as August 2009.
As for who is the receiver, the company staff said that the specific situation is not clear, and told reporters a website to allow reporters to check the specific information. However, the reporter opened the site and discovered that this site is not Wuhan Huihua, Agriculture, and Agriculture.
Afterwards, the reporter called Wuhan Huihua Agriculture, the company's staff still said that Wuhan Huihua Agriculture, Agriculture, and Agriculture was established by a joint venture between the owner of Hong Kong Kee Kee Group and Huazhong Agricultural University. What the company said was no longer a joint venture. She said it was unclear, and she specifically asked the person in charge of the company. Whether the joint venture company of Hui Kee Group exists in the end is unknown.
It is worth noting that Wuhan Huihua Sannong also has a State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Breeding, National Crop Molecular Technology Breeding Center, National Plant Gene Research Center (Wuhan), Hubei Rice Research Center, and Hainan Research and Breeding Base. This level of breeding research centers has caused problems or exposed the current problems of managing genetically modified seeds.
Simultaneous investigation
Huanong responds: No company is authorized to operate genetically modified rice
Every reporter He Jun sent from Beijing
Yesterday, at the Greenpeace office in Beijing, a reporter of the “Daily Economic News†witnessed the whole process of detecting genetically modified rice seeds purchased from Hubei Province. It is reported that these rice varieties containing genetically modified ingredients are being sold to local farmers.
Greenpeace stated that in March and April 2010, they unannounced visits to the seed markets in Hubei and Hunan provinces. They detected three batches of genetically modified seed samples, including the purchase on March 3 in Zhanggou Town, Xiantao City, Hubei Province. “Huaong Yiliangyou 6†rice seeds from agri-food supermarket; purchased on April 1st from the Agricultural Supermarket at Xiyangpo, Dingzhen Town, Dingcheng Town, Changde City, Hunan Province, and purchased from Jinshi City, Changde City, Hunan Province on March 30th. The "Peiliangyou 93" rice seed of Dukou Township Agricultural Material Station was purchased on March 31st from Huonong Agricultural Capital Supermarket of Baohedi Township, Jinshi City, Changde City, Hunan Province.
The reporter saw that the first two kinds of rice seeds are sealed packaging products. From the appearance point of view, there is no obvious difference from ordinary rice seeds, and the packaging is marked on the "hybrid rice."
At Greenpeace’s office in Beijing, Fang Lifeng, director of the Greenpeace Food and Agriculture Project, demonstrated to reporters about the rapid detection of rice seeds. In the three test bottles, the test solution, test solution + Chinese No. 8 rice seed (traditional rice seed), and test liquid + Cangliangyou No. 6 were respectively installed. The three test papers displayed one red line, one red line, and two red lines in sequence. . "Two red bands indicate that they were positive for the transgene," explains Fang Lifeng.
The trademark and address left on the product packaging, as well as the findings of Greenpeace, all point to the only company in the country that has obtained the GM Rice Safety Certificate issued by the Ministry of Agriculture—Huazhong Agricultural University.
The reporter saw that on the packaging of the “Ziliangyou 6†rice seed, it was marked with the “Hua Nong†trademark. The manufacturer was Wuhan Jiuhuan Seed Industry Co., Ltd. and the address read “Hubei Wuhan Huanong Courtyardâ€. . Greenpeace stated that the staff of the Huonong Agricultural Materials Supermarket in Baohedi Township, Jinshi City, Changde City, Hunan Province, had told unannounced visits to staff members that the seeds of the so-called "insect-resistant rice" sold were purchased from Huazhong Agricultural University. The test results also showed that the transgenic rice, rice products and seeds were lined with Bt63, which was developed by Huazhong Agricultural University.
With all sorts of questions from the outside world, yesterday afternoon, the "Daily Economic News" called Huazhong Agricultural University. The person in charge of the school's biological science media center said that for the mention of this reporter, the seeds labeled with the "HuaNong" trademark were detected as genetically modified. One thing is not known.
The person in charge said that the school has never developed a rice seed named “Jianliangyou 6â€. To date, Huazhong Agricultural University has not authorized any company to produce, develop, or operate transgenic insect-resistant rice seeds, nor has it carried out or participated in any The production, development and operation of transgenic insect-resistant rice seeds. For the current situation in which the society claims that there are sales and planting of transgenic insect-resistant rice seeds, it is not ruled out that the seeds may be obtained through illegal methods or privately grown.
“Because Huanong was the first R&D unit to obtain a genetically modified rice safety certificate, once the news about GM rice is raised, everyone naturally thinks it is relevant to our school.†She stressed, “But as a research institute, we guarantee that our team is strict. In compliance with relevant regulations, the experimental GM rice will be recycled without any commercialization.â€
This statement shows that there was no difference between Huazhong Agricultural University's response to the discovery of genetically modified rice in supermarkets in Hunan and Hubei provinces a month ago. In the previous storm, the Agriculture Departments of the two provinces finally stated publicly that "all sampling samples did not contain any insect-resistant genetically modified components."