It is reported from a special meeting on general review of ‘national research and industrialization of transgenic plants’ that China has cultivated 55 new transgenic cotton varieties through approved commercial production which possess international competitiveness and carry transgenic anti-insect characters.

The total areas of over 100 million mu (one hectare = 15 mu) have brought up direct economic benefits of 15 billion yuan.

Cultivation of new transgenic cotton varieties has promoted the domestic market share of anti-insect cotton from 5 percent in 1998 to 70 percent in 2005. Domestic anti-insect cotton has won a decisive victory in competition with international anti-insect cotton in the market.

It is learned that plant transgenic technology is a hot competition of current international agricultural biotechnology research and development.

The special project of ‘national transgenic plants research and industrialization’ started in 1999.

Central government invested 510 million yuan into this project, local departments and social communities devoted 320 million yuan, focusing on functional gene cloning, transgenic new materials creation, transgenic core technology innovation, new product cultivation and industrialization, safety assessment of GM plants, construction of transgenic research platform, and so on.
 
 
Fibre2fashion, News Desk - China