China looks to be a likely candidate for the first country in the world to approve genetically modified rice, despite the fact that the State Agricultural GM Crop Biosafety Committee, a technical body that evaluates GM research, did not approve the idea at its three-day meeting in Beijing late last year.

Caution seems to be the order of the day, largely because opposition to GM rice crops is much stronger than for cotton and feed crops like corn.

But in China, non-approved GM rice has already made an appearance. Greenpeace uncovered the cultivation of GM rice in Hubei province in early- 2005.

At the time local farmers knew little about the risks of planting the genetically modified crop, which is why a more cautious approach is being taken to the biotechnology’s official approval.
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