Study On The Chinese Government Regulation Of Genetically Modified Food Safety

Genetically modified food has been developing at a extremely high speed in the past20years since the world’s first genetically modified food born in America in1993.Meanwhile, the safety and commercial cultivation of genetically modified food has also been called into question around the world. This quarrel are all ended without any conclusion. In November2009, China’s Ministry of Agriculture issued safety certificates to two strains of genetically modified rice and a strain of genetically modified corn. This means China may become the first country in the world who support the commercial cultivation of genetically modified staple food. Genetically modified food, however, is different from the traditional food. Uncertain security, latent risk and serious consequence are all its special characteristics. In order to avoid security problems, the government should regulate the genetically modified food and it is an urgent and important academic task.The article describes an overview of genetically modified food and its development status. It is proposed that government regulations are urgently needed in the development of genetically modified food. A comparative study on government regulation is conducted between European Union and America, from which some suggestions are raised up for reference. Then, the present situation of China’s government regulation of genetically modified food is thoroughly studied and analyzed. Finally, in combination with the experience of European Union and America, China’s government regulation on genetically modified food is discussed.In addition to the introduction part, the essay is divided into four parts. The first part gives a brief introduction to genetically modified food, mainly its concept, development situation, necessity and theory base of regulation.The second part is dealt with the present situation of China’s government regulation. And followed by a comprehensive analysis from the perspective of legislative level, regulation subject, regulation system and gene patents.The third part introduces the main characteristics of government regulations referred to genetically modified food in European Union and America, from which some suggestions are raised up for reference. Meanwhile, the reasons which caused the differences of government regulations in this two countries and regions are also researched comparatively. In the fourth part, some suggestions from European Union and America are initiated for reference, and some suggestions are put forward for the government regulation of genetically modified food in China.