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China Rejects 545,000 Tons of US Genetically Modified Corn
hawkinspeter writes "The BBC is reporting that China has rejected 545,000 tons of U.S. corn that was found to contain an unapproved genetically modified strain. Although China doesn't have a problem per se with GM crops (they've been importing GM soybeans since 1997) — but their product safety agency found MIR162 in 12 batches of corn. 'The safety evaluation process [for MIR162] has not been completed and no imports are allowed at the moment before the safety certificate is issued,' said Nui Din, China's vice agricultural minister. The Chinese are now calling on U.S. authorities to tighten their controls to prevent unapproved strains from being sent to China after the first batch of corn was rejected in November due to MIR162."
Since GM crops are already shown to jump to other fields, it's hardly surprising. And hardly the only time this has happened. This is just another friendly FU, like the "near collision" in the sea off China, to remind the US that China holds all the cards.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
The North Koreans will happily take it.
46. The Hobo smiles, his eyes glaze over, and he burps. "Beware the man who has lived longer than the Wasteland."
"The safety evaluation process [for MIR162] has not been completed and no imports are allowed at the moment before the safety certificate is issued," said China's vice agricultural minister, Niu Dun.
The Ministry of Agriculture has recently launched a publicity campaign to allay concerns over GM foods and says the criticisms are unfounded.
Seems pretty fair to me. sloppy testing on the US end is all.
Apparently the melamine powder content was too low...
Are you going to build a house out of Corn?
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Usually the seller know that the country will not accept the product before they have processed and shipped the product.
Also depending on your views of GM Foods, either china is rejecting food that will feed a lot of people, due to some politics. Or China saving its people from the US Sending China Poison food.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Assuming that Chinese health authorities have their priorities straight, that must mean that eating US corn is more dangerous than breathing the air in Beijing. This is worrisome!
Isn't this just things working as they should?
I think if things were working as they should, the unapproved corn wouldn't have made it all the way to China before it was rejected. China makes headlines for sending tainted food to the USA, so the USA should make headlines for sending tainted food to China.
Where does it say they threw it away? They rejected the first of a series of shipments. It just means the ship will need to unload somewhere else.
Exactly THAT is the news.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
We could, but then again do you want to explain to some lowlife why he can't have his cheap electronic toy?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
China has a "Product safety agency"? Really? It must only apply to imports, not exports.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
Oh, don't worry. They WILL throw it away, under the watchful eye of an armed guard if necessary, before they give it away.
Are you going to build a house out of Corn?
http://inhabitat.com/corn-waste-transformed-into-versatile-building-material/
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
Given that the United States just arrested three Chinese nationals over alleged theft of GM corn, it appears that they do not have an issue with GMOs.
In fact, I suspect that this shipment refusal may be retribution for the arrests.
Because we're not subsidizing 3D printers?
It was tested for two years http://cera-gmc.org/index.php?action=gm_crop_database&mode=ShowProd&data=MIR162. Considering most drugs take decades if they even make it to market.
No good deed goes unpunished.
HOW CAN ANYBODY THROW AWAY HALF A MILLION TONS OF FOOD WHEN SO MANY HUMAN BEINGS ARE STARVING?
Well, it depends. Is that food actually safe to eat? In this case, probably, but that hasn't been vetted and proven by the Chinese government, so they're quite sane in erring on the side of safety. Especially considering all the product recalls involving tainted food from their local producers. Plus, it's not like the US or China are strapped for food at the national level.
The problem with starvation has been one of distribution for much of the past century. If this food IS being thrown away (and that's a big "if"), then it's because there's no good way of getting it to someone who could pay some price for it before it spoils. (And food aid is generally not done for completely free.)
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
Are you nuts? People who can create their own crappy toys won't buy them!
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
With that much corn, you could build a palace!
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
Let's say China ships us 545,000 tons of toothpaste laced with lead, and our health inspectors reject it. Would this even be news or just another day at the Los Angeles shipping ports?
As it stands, our trade deficit with China is so great, we're coming up with creative uses for all the shipping containers being stocked 30 or 40 high -- we could build housing for the homeless from all those containers, and completely eliminate homelessness in this country, if only we had the land to put all those containers somewhere else.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
The not I'm not seeing mentioned is how soon this is after they rejected shellfish from the entire US west coast - again, a not entirely uncalled for, but unusual move.
I'm not sure if this is more in response to internal unease about their own food quality problems, or a more general snub of the US - admittedly, these things are hardly exclusive.
No, I'd say its more dependant on your reading comprehension of the summary. They have a regulartory system that approves specific mutations. They accept others, but have not finished certification of this one.
Its the most sensible way of dealing with GMO's, IMHO. Not a complete ban, but approval after testing for safety.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
Isn't this just things working as they should?
When things work the way they should it's because the Chinese gummint wants to leverage something. It could be they genuinely don't want GM produce, but considering the way they are destroying and polluting their own environment wholesale, I figure they're totally good with the GM produce, but want to extract a concession somewhere, like the US opening markets to paint-thinned milk.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Give the import-exporters and shop keepers a basic income, and let them work on bug bounties if they want to keep busy, or take MOOCs, or volunteer, or ...
Leisure time is the goal, technology can help us get there.
Yeah, just like it worked for the content industry which instantly realized that their old business model is dead and instead of trying to fight tooth and nail for laws to prop up their failed model they adapted and reinvented themselves.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Article says they don't have an issue with GMOs.
They have an issue with unapproved GMOs.
Seems pretty reasonable. Even if politics are at play.
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
What it were tainted with lead, they'd probably have no problem with that... y'know, being China and all that..
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
This sick propaganda starts with the media. Fuck reading a story's contents, you give me the color/race, ethnicity, religion, sexual-orientation, wealth/affluence, partisanship of the story (domestic and international), I'll tell you exactly what the reactions of my countrymen will be regardless of the facts. This post-colonial imperialism is sickening and runs through the veins of our society from top to bottom. It creates double standards, domestically and internationally.
China and its Ministry of Agriculture rejects unapproved goods just like our FDA would. How dare they expect the same as us? Let the smear campaign begin! China executes Uyghur Muslims, all of a sudden China is the best. Why? Because in our hierarchical caste system, China seems ranks higher than Muslims. This is the reality, a single stamp on your forehead of an identity defines one entirely and groups you with a stereotype irrelevant of the facts. And if you think that people are willingly going to accept second-class treatment, you are tripping, keep investing in the military as this is the only way.
This is exactly why:
These double standards and injustices go on BECAUSE you permit it to happen. I'm the fucking patriot here, you are just a mindless sheep falling in line, fuck you!
"How dare China import lead-tainted goods! Ban!"
"How dare China ban our GMO exports!"
American Exceptionalism is Exceptional Hypocrisy.
You are replying to something that was not stated. Your parent post was pointing out the difference between tainted as in proven harmful and "tainted" as in scaremongering. The article and the rest of the discussion (at least this portion) is about the validity of the argument against GM foods.
Making up some BS about somebody having to buy every product for sale somewhere on earth unless they can prove it harmful in some way pretty much proves that you have no actual argument against GM foods other than you don't like them because they are scary to you.
Yep, GM food is destroying and polluting the environment. So is fertilizing with anything other than letting the cows eat half your crop so they can fertilize it for you.
It's misinformation and scare words like "tainted" that help fuel the anti-GMO propaganda machine. Obviously, that machine is working pretty well.
kurzweil_freak
5th Kyu Genbukan Ninpo/KJJR student
Be the darkness that allows the light to shine.
[citation needed]
kurzweil_freak
5th Kyu Genbukan Ninpo/KJJR student
Be the darkness that allows the light to shine.
Think of all the corn and E.T. cartridges we could donate to the starving if we weren't so short-sighted.
The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
The whole point of some of these changes is to make the food no longer attractive (or possibly even toxic) to pests. It seems reasonable that the changes required to do this may have some impact on people as well.
That said, direct genetic modification is a lot less likely to cause problems than the radiation-based mutation where they just blast it and see what they end up with--that ends up changing a lot more DNA than the direct modification would, and has far fewer labelling restrictions.
FWIW, cows prefer to eat foods that people can't digest. (Except for things like apples, and even those aren't particularly good for cows.) Cows do quite well on grass and alfalfa, and CAN even live for awhile on a mixture of partially sawdust. Clover tends to be too rich for them. (OTOH, they do like a bit of molasses added to their fodder. It helps keep them quiet while you are milking. But don't add too much, or you'll have a sick cow.)
Cows are not horses. Horses compete much more with humans for food. Horses prefer grain. Cows do better with grass and hay.
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
...been vetted and proven by the Chinese government
Not sure if serious.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
When the US rejects Chinese food products, it's usually due to high levels of heavy metals and real poisons. When China rejects US food products, it's due to pseudo-scientific fear of "frankenfoods" which have zero evidence of human health risks. It's not the same thing. Only one is "tainted".
If you place an order for a million red gummi bears, and you find out that when you receive the order that 10% of them are blue gummi bears, it's still correct to say that the blue ones are "tainting" the order, even if they are generally equivalent and perfectly safe to eat.
China is not anti-GMO, but they have an approved list of GMO crops they will accept. If the USA supplier can't do a simple thing like keep track of which GMO variants they are supplying, what other quality control problems do they have?
I can accept that you hope that, but I consider this foolish.
OTOH... ... And of changing the laws so that the descendants of a plant belong to the farmer that grew them.
My chief beef against GMO foods is the way the patent laws are interpreted and enforced. I do think that Monsanto should be put out of business by fair means or foul...and if I thought banning GMO plants outright would to that, I might be in favor of it for THAT reason. It wouldn't, however, so I'm more in favor of requiring extensive safety testing.
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2013/12/19/six-chinese-nationals-indicted-in-corn-seed-theft-case/article?nclick_check=1
Six Chinese nationals have been indicted as part of an ongoing agriculture espionage case involving the attempted theft of valuable trade secrets from U.S. seed manufacturing companies.
U.S. Attorney Nicholas Klinefeldt announced the indictments Thursday morning in a news statement.
Federal prosecutors announced last week that the men had been accused of traveling across the Midwest to steal millions of dollars in seed technology trade secrets for use at their China-based seed company.
>No wonder people are obese, sick and have cancer. GM is poison.
Don't look to the micro-nutrients first. Start with the macro-nutrients. We eat a lot more of them.
Try sugar, wheat and weird fats that didn't exist before 1970 for starters.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
Much the same way that we, as a society, decided that we would rather see millions of those darker folks die from Malaria just so we can pretend to care about the birds that were not being harmed (as proven by the EPA study) by a certain pesticide.
Curious, what pesticide are you talking about? While some insecticides such as those that are arsenic based have been banned for everything it's hard to believe that ingesting lead arsenic wouldn't negatively impact birds (and people). Of course that was banned before the EPA existed.
Then there are insecticides such as DDT that are banned for everything except using on malaria carrying mosquitoes. Of course DDT is pretty useless now as it was overused and mosquitoes have evolved resistance to it. Important thing about most pesticides, they should only be used sparingly to avoid resistance in the target population.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
That's also part of the reason GE crops are so convenient for international issues. If you have a political issue with a shipment of a crop, there's not a lot you can do about it without outright making something up or being very obvious the issue is political. It would not be possible to do this with less regulated and less controversial methods of crop improvement (for example, if you don't want to eat peanuts with non-peanut genes for nematode resistance that were brought in without the direct use of genetic engineering, too bad for you), but with GE crops, you can just say you take issue with the genetic engineering, and then boom, you've got a plausible reason to reject whatever you want. Genetic engineering is a convenient pawn in international trade relations. As usual though, science takes the backseat.
A country responsible for leaded paint in toys, melamine in pet food and baby milk is refusing corn over GMO concerns ?
I've got better things to do tonight than die.
I know I'm not the first one to point this out here, but seriously, let me repeat this:
HOW CAN ANYBODY THROW AWAY HALF A MILLION TONS OF FOOD WHEN SO MANY HUMAN BEINGS ARE STARVING?
How have we - collectively - come to the point where this sort of things is acceptable? This is completely indecent, and someone in power should be shot over this.
You dont see the big picture - people are starving BECAUSE we overproduce thanks to huge subsidies. Africa was able to feed itself before we started sending cheaper food that destroyed their economy.
Who logs in to gdm? Not I, said the duck.
Oh, look. It was. They apologized for it. And cited papers that don't exist.
kurzweil_freak
5th Kyu Genbukan Ninpo/KJJR student
Be the darkness that allows the light to shine.
Don't punch the gift horse in the mouth, take the damned food and eat it.. Or starve.
Ungrateful pinheads
---- Booth was a patriot ----
I guess you don't like eating then. Without GMO most of the world will starve.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Actually, no, they won't. Zimbabwe, Angola, Zambia, and others have all rejected GM corn.
I'm trying to be careful of it here at home, but if I were starving that calculus would be much different.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
yes, let's make $1 crap toys with $10 worth of supplies on a 3D printer! we'll beat those damn chinamen !
Isn't killing "birds (and people)" the goal of a pesticide?
*ducks*
(And yes, I realise that my comment requires a misreading of the pp. But it's a joke.)
Look out!
Unlikely, bees are not needed for corn pollination. But the GM soybeans do have flowers. I remember bees on those while working in the fields.
No good deed goes unpunished.