| The 21st century is a century of biotechnology. The research and development of GMF (genetically modified food) has already become a hot topic in the academic circle and even in the public. The first GMC (genetically modified crop) —genetically modified tobacco was born on the earth in 1983, and the first GMC of commercial cultivation (delayed ripening tomato) emerged in the USA in 1994, then GMC began to be planted in some countries such as Canada, Argentina, China. Is GMF safe? Should it be labeled? Should it be patented? How to ensure the just distribution of interests in the process of the commercialization of GMC? etc., these issues have been paid more attention to by professionals and the public. It is of great significance in theory and in practice to analyze and explore these ethical issues and provide ethical guidelines and regulatory recommendations for the research and development of GMF in China. Genetic engineering has been widely applied in the fields of agriculture, food, medicine, environmental protection and so on. Under the operation of market, genetically modified organisms including GM plants, GM animals and GM microorganisms have entered the market from laboratory and great economic interests have come out with them. Because there are many advantages for GMC, such as high yield, less cost, herbicide-resistant, insect-resistant and virus-resistant,quality and nutrition improving, convenient for transportation and storage, and keeping fresh as many advocates have claimed, some countries have given priority to the research of GMC and its commercial cultivation. In 2002, there were thirteen countries (including five developing countries and eight developed countries) where GMC was commercially planted, and the planting area of GMC on the earth was 58.67 million hectare.The "principlism" is the rationale of this dissertation. There are five basic ethical principles such as the principles of nonmaleficence, utility, respect, justice and integrity that provide us an ethical framework for evaluating our action in relation to GMF. Is GMF natural or unnatural? According to the naturalist tradition of Taoism, GMF is unnatural and it violates the natural law. For Confucianism, GMF is unnatural, but it is not bounded to violates the natural order, because it seems to Confucianism that " Human can carry forward the dao, but the dao cannot carry forward human" (Confucius). There are two kinds of arguments about GMF for the present scholars: some scholars think that GMF is natural, and the other scholars think that GMF is unnatural. In fact, GMF is a unity of natural and unnatural, and GMF being unnatural is not a sufficient reason for rejecting GMF, but we can get some good enlightenment from this argument. We not only should respect natural orders but also should respect humanness in the process of developing GMF.The safety of GMF is a crucial ethical issue. It includes four dimensions such as food safety, ecological safety, effects on biodiversity and possible cross-species infection. After analyzing and evaluating the arguments for and against the related issues, the author draws the following conclusion: the short and direct influences of GMF on human health are relatively small, but the long and indirect influences of GMF on human health are uncertain; the probability about the influences of GMC/GMF on eco-environment and biodiversity may be relatively high, and GMC/GMF may give rise to disastrous outcome if we cannot control it well; and we should pay more attention to the issue of possible cross-species infection because of its mega-risk although the probability of cross-species infection is very low. The author argues that we should carry out the strategy of "guilty until proven innocent" towards the safety issue of GMF for its possible mega-risk.Human experiment with GMF is directly related to the safety of GMF. In order to know the effects of GMF on human health, we should make human experiment with GMF before it enters the market for protecting possible harm to human heal...
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