At 4 pm on November 26th, 2010, Prof. Zhang Zhang, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Huazhong Agricultural University, invited an open academic lecture at the National Maize Improvement Center of China Agricultural University. During the questioning phase, he suddenly received an audience's question about the safety of genetically modified foods. Questioned. A middle-aged woman shouted at the venue. Then, the order of the venue was chaotic and the lecture was interrupted.
Professor Zhang Hee, who is known as the “Genetic Rice King†in China, was sieged during the lecture, which triggered widespread concern from the outside world and raised the issue of safety and commercial promotion of GM rice. Afterwards, in the face of public opinion, Professor Zhang Zhifa commissioned the school's Bioscience Media Center (hereinafter referred to as the Center) to answer questions from journalists.
Since the application of genetically modified technology in agriculture, there have been many disputes about ecological security, food safety, and human health. Over the years, both parties to the dispute have cited a large number of arguments to prove their views, but they could not convince each other. (For CFP)
Technology: There is no essential difference with hybridization?
Guangzhou Daily: This incident still stems from people's doubts about the safety of genetically modified rice. What kind of technology is rice genetically modified?
Center: Transgenic technology refers to the technique of introducing artificially isolated and modified exogenous genes into the genome of an organism, thereby altering the genetic traits of the organism. The process of genetic modification, probably similar to the process of patching computer systems, is the optimization and upgrading of existing systems. Patched, windows system is still windows and will not become other. Similarly, species that have been transformed by genetic engineering are still the original species.
Guangzhou Daily: What is the difference between transgenic technology and hybridization technology?
Center: The breeding process is actually a process of creating mutations and selecting mutations. Transgenic technology is a modern technology for creating mutations. It has no essential difference with conventional mutagenesis and hybridization; there is no essential difference between transgenic breeding and conventional breeding. Crossbreeding achieves gene transfer through hybridization. This method can only allow various genes to “batch†transfer and can not achieve the targeted transfer of useful genes. In order to reduce linkage linkages, crossbreeding requires multiple crosses and self-crossings. Therefore, the crossbreeding process is quite lengthy. The transgenic technology first “shears†superior genes that have the functions of insect resistance, drought resistance, stress resistance, yield control, and growth control, and “paste†them into the DNA double helix chain of the crop to be improved. This technology can directly and precisely improve organisms, effectively shortening the breeding cycle and greatly improving safety.