1.China investigates whether children used in GMO "golden rice" trial
2.GM rice test researcher suspended from work

EXTRACT: China CDC [Center For Disease Control And Prevention] reported the latest progress of the investigation, saying its fellow researcher Yin Shi'an, the third author of the paper, was inconsistent in his accounts during the investigation. As a result, China CDC has suspended his work and put him under further investigation.

Also according to China CDC, none of its affiliate institutes had ever approved or participated in the research of Golden Rice. The paper has not been submitted to the Ministry of Health for ethic examination or approval.(item 2)
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1.China investigates whether children used in GMO "golden rice" trial
Reuters, September 11 2012
http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFBRE88A05V20120911

BEIJING – China's health authorities will investigate allegations that genetically modified (GMO) rice was tested on Chinese children as part of a Sino-U.S. research project, state media said on Tuesday.

One Chinese researcher has been suspended by authorities while investigations are carried out.

China is already the world's largest grower of GMO cotton and the top importer of GMO soybeans but, while Beijing has already approved home-grown strains of GMO rice, it remains cautious about introducing the technology on a commercial basis amid widespread public concern about food safety.

The Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) investigation came after a report last month by environmental group Greenpeace claimed that a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)-backed study used 24 Chinese children aged between six and eight to test genetically modified "golden rice".

Golden rice, a new type of rice that contains beta carotene, is intended to alleviate vitamin A deficiency.

The CDC said no domestic institutions had been approved to participate in the research and that it had also asked Tufts University in the United States to help investigate the issue.

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is working with leading nutrition and agricultural research organisations to develop and evaluate golden rice as a potential method to reduce vitamin A deficiency in the Philippines and Bangladesh.

The research by Tufts University and other Chinese scientists was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in August. It aimed to demonstrate that the rice could provide a good source of vitamin A for children in countries where deficiency in the vitamin is common. (here)

Andrea Grossman, assistant director of public relations at Tufts University, told state news agency Xinhua in a recent interview the university was deeply concerned about the allegations and is reviewing protocols used in the 2008 research "to ensure the strictest standards were adhered to".

"We have always placed the highest importance on human health, and we take all necessary steps to ensure the safety of human research subjects," Grossman said.

"We have always been and remain committed to the highest ethical standards in research," she said.

The Greenpeace report sparked a wave of criticism on Weibo, China's version of Twitter, with the researchers accused of a breach of ethics for testing poor, rural children whose families may not have been informed properly.

One of the Chinese authors, Shi-an Yin, has been suspended from work pending further investigation after his responses proved to be inconsistent, the CDC said.

Yin was cited by the official People's Daily newspaper as saying he helped collect data for the study but was unaware that it involved GM rice.

The second of the two Chinese researchers, Hu Yuming, denied his involvement in the research, the People's Daily said.

China, the world's top rice producer and consumer, approved the safety of one locally developed strain of genetically modified rice, known as the Bt rice, in 2009, but commercial production has been delayed.

Apart from genetically modified products, China's vast and unruly food sector is still struggling to come to grips with food safety four years after a major scandal where tainted milk powder was blamed for the deaths of at least six children.

(Reporting by Niu Shuping and David Stanway; Editing by Paul Tait)
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2.GM rice test researcher suspended from work – Updated
Xinhua, September 11 2012
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-09/11/content_15748558.htm

BEIJING – A Chinese researcher involved in the controversial testing of genetically modified (GM) rice has been suspended from his work and put under investigation, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) reported on Monday evening.

China CDC, under orders from the Ministry of Health, is investigating whether dozens of children in central China's Hunan province were used in 2008 as test subjects in a US-China joint research project that included GM food Golden Rice.

Greenpeace broke the news on the controversial test in late August, saying that the joint research involved feeding Golden Rice, which is genetically modified to be rich in beta carotene, to 24 children aged between six and eight years old in Hunan. It cited a paper published in the August edition of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The paper claimed that Golden Rice is effective in providing vitamin A to kids.

China CDC reported the latest progress of the investigation, saying its fellow researcher Yin Shi'an, the third author of the paper, was inconsistent in his accounts during the investigation. As a result, China CDC has suspended his work and put him under further investigation.

Also according to China CDC, none of its affiliate institutes had ever approved or participated in the research of Golden Rice. The paper has not been submitted to the Ministry of Health for ethic examination or approval.

Its lead author, Tang Guangwen, director of the Carotenoid and Health Laboratory of Tufts University in the United States, insisted that the study had been conducted with all regulatory approval required by each country.

China CDC stated that its scientific review committee had asked Tang to provide supporting materials and a detailed report of the research, and also asked Tufts University to investigate the matter and offer a detailed report.

GM food is controversial, as there is still no consensus on whether or not it is harmful to the human body.

According to the Greenpeace website, it is simply not known whether genetically engineered crops are safe for human or animal consumption. Independent scientific studies on the matter are severely lacking, it said.