INTERVIEW-China's GM rules to slow Monsanto's Bt corn plan


     SHANGHAI, June 11 (Reuters) - China's new rules on genetically
modified crops are likely to delay the
commercialisation of Monsanto's Bt corn by about a year to at least
2003, a senior company executive said on
Monday.

     The rules, effective from May 23, span research and production to
food processing and trade.

     They require GM crop growers to conduct production field tests and
require state approval of applications for
bio-engineered crops, which could take up to 270 days.

     But the industry hopes Beijing will give more details on some of
the new rules, such as the type of products that
now require GM labelling, David Shi, Monsanto's government and public
affairs director in China, told Reuters in an
interview.

     "Before the rules, our plan was to commercialise our Bt corn in
2002 or 2003. Now, the earliest may be 2003,"
Shi said.

     "Previously, our modified crops had to pass lab tests, pilot field
runs and then go on to environmental release
before we can go commercial. Now there is an additional step of a
"production trial" before we can mass produce,"
he said.

     The U.S. biotechnology firm grows only a little more than a hectare
of Bt corn, currently at the environmental
release stage -- in which crops are grown in the open, rather than in a
closed area like a greenhouse.

     Bt crops contain the bacterium Bacillus thuringienesis proteins and
are resistant to corn borers, bollworms and
other pests that ravage cotton plants.

     STEMMING OUT BOGUS SEEDS

     Monsanto is hoping its Bt corn will ride on the success of its Bt
cotton crop in China, which is expected to have its
acreage increase significantly in the next few years.

     The company has gained approval from Beijing to grow Bt cotton in
the eastern provinces of Hebei, Anhui and
Shandong and is awaiting permission to plant in Hubei and Henan, Shi
said.

     China's cotton acreage is expected to rise 14.9 percent to 4.63
million hectares in 2001. Monsanto officials said last
year they expected about 20 percent of China's cotton acreage to be
genetically modified.

     Monsanto's Bt cotton covers about 240,000 hectares and the New
York-listed firm hopes the new GM rules will
stem widespread sales of bogus seeds.

     "Illegal and fake seeds are sold quite commonly throughout China.
So the rules are welcomed by the industry,"
Shi said.

     "In China, people openly market their products, giving out samples
of their fake seeds. They are not discreet about
it," he said.

     Importers, such as domestic trading firms and flour mills, would
need state approval before shipping in GM seeds
and grains, according to a State Council document published in the
official People's Daily newspaper on Thursday.

     This would mean that Monsanto's Round Up Ready soybeans would need
to be approved, although the company
has not filed an application yet, Shi said.

     The new rules also require GM products to be labelled as such
before going on sale, but Shi said the details were
fuzzy.

     "What products, when and at what threshold do we label these
products? For example, do we need to spell out
what is the GM content of products like beer and noodles?" Shi queried.

     "We are not clear about that," he said.