抗议者蒙住自己的双眼，手举被发现含有转基因成分的食品

中国最近批准37亿美元的转基因育种重大研究专项，特别是培育转基因水稻，这被支持者欢呼为喂养该国不断增长的人口的方式。

但是反对声音仍然强大，这是由于人们在从健康和环境风险直到管理漏洞等各种问题上都心存疑虑，邱瑾在《自然》杂志的一篇文章中报道。

转基因水稻育种者已经证明，引进Bt基因或者其它抗虫基因能够减少杀虫剂使用、劳动力成本及由害虫引发的减产。

但是，诸如明尼苏达大学昆虫学家David Andow等生态学家说，其它昆虫已经取代了Bt基因对抗的目标昆虫，而且通过交叉授粉，基因漂流可能无法避免。

另外一些人警告，对转基因技术的防范措施可能被水稻的单一作物栽培和缺乏相邻避难所而削弱，这会促使生成有抗性的害虫；缺乏对转基因种子有效的标示制度；以及非法释放实验室中的转基因品种。

让人担心的是，许多利益相关方被排除在农业部的生物安全评估程序之外。

另一方面，国际农业知识、科学与技术促进发展评估组织（IAASTD）在今年4月警告说，仅仅狭窄地专注于转基因技术是一种误导。该报告主席Hans Herren说，“如果全球不协调一致地来恢复土地的肥力，转基因技术将一事无成。”（生化中国 Biochemcn.com）

生化中国推荐原始出处：

Nature 455, 850 (2008)

Agriculture: Is China ready for GM rice?

In an effort to avoid a food crisis as the population grows, China is putting its weight behind genetically modified strains of the country's staple food crop. Jane Qiu explores the reasons for the unprecedented push. In a paddy field 30 kilometres south of Fuzhou, the capital of China's Fujian province, Wang Feng is surveying a massive green and yellow chessboard before him. Wang, a rice researcher at the Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and his colleagues have been developing genetically modified (GM) rice strains to resist pest infestation, and have been testing in these plots for a decade. Two strains from Wang's team are now awaiting regulatory approval by the agricultural ministry for commercial growth. It could represent the largest commercialization of a GM foodcrop. Rice is a staple for most of the country's 1.3 billion people and a primary source of calories for more than half the world's population.