GMO debate in Asia continues

China says it intends to test 'space-enhanced' crops in a future satellite launch as it mulls over the possibility of introducing transgenic rice.

Meanwhile in France, Greenpeace has been concentrating efforts against the introduction of GMO crops. The group though was ordered to remove a map from its website showing transgenic 'contamination' zones throughout the country, after incidents in which test fields were destroyed by activists.

Also, a recent study shows that transgenic crops, including experimental ones that have not been approved as safe, continue to contaminate non-GMO plants.


A young transgenic salmon is shown as much larger than a natural salmon of the same age. Over time, though, the average weight evens out between the two types. According to one study "fast-growing transgenic salmon were found to dominate feed acquisition and exhibit strong agonistic and cannibalistic behavior toward their [nontransgenic] cohorts when there were inadequate feed resources." Photo from Science Daily.

China's smog reaches U.S.

Pollution from China's booming industrial expansion is floating across the Pacific to the shores of the western United States, according to an AP report published Friday.

Particles from coal power plants and diesel vehicles and dust from deforested regions is carried on the trade winds for thousands of miles before settling on areas like California, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

On some days, a city like Los Angeles can expect up to 25 percent of its particulate matter from China. Some experts believe that China will one day account for a third of all California's air pollution.


Researcher Steven S. Cliff displays a set of rotating drums that separate aerosols from the air at his monitoring site atop Mt. Tamalpais State Park, Calif., Thursday, July 20, 2006. AP/Eric Risberg photo from Yahoo News.

China is also degrading air quality in nearby countries like South Korea and Japan, and the other growing Asian ndustrial powerhouse, India, isn't helping the Asian air quality situation either.

For its part, China expects to spend some US$162 billion over the next five years to address environmental problems, but many experts see the challenge the country faces as daunting giving the speed of economic growth.

Asian countries to push N. Korea resolution

Foreign ministers from 20 Asian and Pacific Rim countries agreed Friday to push implementation of a U.N. Security Council resolution urging North Korea to return to six-party nuclear talks.

The 10-nation meeting included the ministers of China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States, all nations involved in the six-party talks. They were joined by ministers from Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia and New Zealand.

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said Pyongyang was ready to return to six-party talks but only with certain conditions.

Pyongyang is demanding that Washington lift sanctions imposed on a Macao-based bank suspected of laundering money and counterfeiting for North Korea.