A recent survey by the Shenzhen center for disease prevention and control (CDC) found that most Shenzhen residents have doubts about the safety of genetically modified (GM) food.

The survey involving 317 Shenzhen residents found that only 16.7 percent of the surveyed would like to eat genetically modified food, while about 40 percent said they wouldn’t and 43.7 percent were not sure.

GM food refers to food that contains organisms that have been genetically modified by recombinant DNA techniques. There has been much controversy over GM food since it was developed about 20 years ago.

"About 50 percent of cooking oils sold in Shenzhen contain ingredients made of genetically modified soybeans. Besides that, there is no other GM food in Shenzhen," said Deng Pingjian, director of CDC’s GM food laboratory.

Supermarkets like Parknshop and Carrefour reported no GM food on sale except for some cooking oils.

Deng said GM soybean is mostly imported from the United States and some South American countries, and it has to pass strict examinations.

The first GM food went on sale in 1997 in China. China currently ranks fifth in the world in terms of volume of GM plantation.

Currently all manufacturers of GM food are required to mark it clearly on the label. "If GM food are not marked clearly or the food contains GM organisms that have not been approved, the manufacturers will be heavily fined," said Deng. But he said so far no such case has been reported in Shenzhen.

Deng said while people have the right to know whether certain food is genetically modified, they should find out more about GM food.

"It is unfair to refuse all GM food blindly," he said.

Like the locals, some foreign residents also expressed doubts about the safety of GM food.

"I know little Chinese, so I have no idea whether certain food contains genetically modified organisms or not. And I don’t accept GM food," said a Swedish man surnamed Kraus living in Jingshan Villas.

The CDC plans to distribute 5,000 copies of a booklet on GM food in Chinese.

The city’s agriculture and health bureaus will soon publish a set of safety standards for GM food, to be adopted in the research, production and sales of genetically modified food in Shenzhen.

(Shenzhen Daily August 4, 2006)