China approves safety of first gene-edited crop

Cibus

04/05/2023 09:49

BEIJING, May 4 (Reuters) - China has approved the safety
of a gene-edited soybean, its first approval of the technology
in a crop, as the country increasingly looks to science to boost
food production. 
    The soybean, developed by privately owned Shandong Shunfeng
Biotechnology Co., Ltd, has two modified genes, significantly
raising the level of healthy fat oleic acid in the plant.
    The safety certificate has been approved for five years from
April 21, according to a document published last week by the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. 
    Unlike genetic modification, which introduces foreign genes
into a plant, gene editing alters existing genes.
    The technology is considered to be less risky than GMOs and
is more lightly regulated in some countries, including China,
which published rules on gene-editing last year.
    "The approval of the safety certificate is a shot in the arm
for the Shunfeng team," said the firm in a statement to Reuters
on Thursday.
    Shunfeng claims to be the first company in China seeking to
commercialise gene-edited crops. 
    It is currently researching around 20 other gene-edited
crops, including higher yield rice, wheat and corn,
herbicide-resistant rice and soybeans and vitamin C-rich
lettuce, said a company representative.
    United States-based company Calyxt CLXT.O  also developed a
high oleic soybean, producing a healthy oil that was the first
gene-edited food to be approved in the U.S. in 2019.
    Several additional steps are needed before China's farmers
can plant the novel soybean, including approvals of seed
varieties with the tweaked genes.
    The approval comes as trade tensions, erratic weather and
war in major grain exporter Ukraine have increased concerns in
Beijing over feeding the country's 1.4 billion people.
    A growing middle class is also facing a surge in
diet-related disease.
    China is promoting GMO crops too, starting large-scale
trials of GM corn this year.
    Getting gene-edited crops onto the market is expected to be
faster however, given fewer steps in the regulatory process.
    Aside from the United States, Japan has also approved
gene-edited foods, including healthier tomatoes and
faster-growing fish. 
    

 (Reporting by Dominique Patton
Editing by Christina Fincher)
 ((dominique.patton@thomsonreuters.com;))