黄金大米

“黄金大米”项目中方研究员遭停职调查China Suspends Researcher Over Rice Study 来源：华尔街日报 2012-09-12China's national health watchdog suspended one of its researchers after announcing it hadn't approved or participated in a 2008 Sino-U.S. study that examined the effect of genetically modified vitamin-enriched rice on 24 children.There is no indication that the children have been harmed, but theagency's response is likely to further entrench widely held public skepticismin China over genetically modified grains amid broader food-safety concerns ranging from dairy products to cooking oil.Unlike the U.S., where genetically modified grain is common, China prohibits its use in human consumption and limits its domestic production, although it allows some imports as animal feed. Such grains are politically unpopular in China, where much of the public believes they can impacthuman biology.Still, the market is a potentially massive one for the industry ofproviding genetically modified crops. For example, China is the world's No.1 producer and consumer of rice. White rice─China's staple starch─lacks vitamin A, a shortage that also presents a market opportunity for genetic scientists.The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday evening that it and its affiliates didn't approve the 2008 'Golden Rice' research project, jointly conducted by researchers from China and Massachusetts-based Tufts University. The project was detailed in a paper published in the August edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.The paper described testing a vitamin-enriched strain of genetically modified rice on 24 children aged 6 to 8 in rural Hunan province. The project was aimed at testing whether the genetically modified staple could reduce vitamin A deficiency, which can cause blindness and death in malnourished children. The study found the genetically modified rice as effective as pure beta-carotene, the pigment that the human body converts to vitamin A. It also found the rice superior to spinach at providing vitamin A to children.The center said on its website that the project didn't conform with a requirement that such work needed to be cleared with top ministry officialsas well as its ethics review committee.The center said it has suspended and is further investigating its researcher Yin Shi'an, who was among the paper's three authors. It said Mr.Yin's accounts during the investigation weren't consistent with those of the project leader and paper's lead author, Tufts researcher Tang Guangwen, who is based at the U.S. university.Ms. Tang had earlier said the tests had been preapproved, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported. She wasn't available for comment.The project involved feeding the children modified rice, spinach andcarotene capsules over a 35-day period. The center said it has asked Tufts to investigate the case.Tufts public-relations deputy director Jennifer Kritz said on Tuesdaythat the university is conducting a review of the protocols in the research and declined to comment further until after it is completed. She said Tufts made 'every effort to abide by Chinese law' as well as to ensure the safety of human research subjects. It said the 2008 China trial was meant to build on previous research conducted in the U.S. on the viability of golden rice, so calledbecause of its hue.The Tufts paper was first flagged by Greenpeace in an Aug. 31 report.Greenpeace has waged a seven-year campaign in China to roll backgenetically modified rice, saying genetic engineering 'contaminates natural organisms in an unforeseeable and uncontrollable way.'The group is conducting a similar movement in the Philippines, where it has demanded an end to field trials of golden rice in three provinces.Despite striking a broad agreement late last year with Argentina to allow corn exports that would reduce its reliance on the U.S., China's Ministry of Agriculture has balked at giving its final approval on allowing specificstrains of modified Argentine corn. It remains unclear when the bilateral corn trade will begin.Comments on China's widely used Twitter-like Sina Weibomicroblogging service, which often acts as a public square, have focused on invective against the U.S. as well as criticism of local government over the Hunan study.'Why are these American experiments getting approvals fromgovernment departments?' said a blogger called summer4584.译文：“黄金大米”项目中方研究员遭停职调查来源：华尔街日报 2012-09-12中国国家卫生监督机构宣布其没有批准或参与2008年中美之间的一项研究，该机构同时暂停了一位研究人员的工作。