Beijing, China
March 2, 2007
Hepeng Jia,
SciDev.Net
China has announced a National Agricultural Biosafety Science
Centre to fend off invasive species and trace the potential
impacts of genetically modified crops.
The US$17.75 million centre is one of a dozen big science
projects planned by the Chinese government. The plans were
announced this week (25 February) by the National Development
and Reform Commission (NDRC), which is responsible for nearly
all major investment from the central Chinese government.
The biosafety centre will comprise laboratories to investigate
high-risk plant pathogens, insects and invasive plants, as well
as quarantine facilities. It will be run by the Beijing-based
Institute of Plant Protection at the Chinese Academy of
Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) and is due to open in 2009.
Wu Kongming, a senior scientist at the Institute of Plant
Protection, said the centre will provide a public platform for
Chinese and foreign scientists to study biosafety issues related
to agriculture.
"We usually only find [invasive species] when the species
outbreak is on a large scale. But with the centre, suspicious
samples from different regions could be frequently tested to
reveal any threats," Wu told SciDev.Net.
He added that the centre's quarantined environment will ensure
that research samples — often live organisms — cannot spread to
natural environments.
Wu also highlighted the centre's important role in evaluating
the impact of genetically modified crops on agriculture by
recreating the environments in closed and controlled conditions.
All data obtained in the centre will be shared with agricultural
scientists nationwide, according to a CAAS newsletter.
Besides the biosafety centre, NDRC plans to spend around US$860
million on 11 other large science projects in the next five
years.
Some US$250 million will be put towards studying the
microstructure of molecules and materials. A further US$86
million will be invested in the large aperture spherical
telescope, the world's largest of its kind, which will
investigate deep space and the early universe. |
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