News archive: February 2007

Wang Xinqiu is prepared to pay ten times more for organic vegetables than for regular produce in Beijing. It buys her peace of mind. "Organic food seems safer,'' said Wang, a Chinese medicine practitioner, after selecting organic cabbage and ginger at a Carrefour SA supermarket as her daughter, 8-year-old Maria, tagged along. "A big reason I buy organic is I'm concerned that my child could eat something contaminated.'' People in China are developing a taste for organically grown food. More than 60% of the country's 562 million city dwellers are willing to pay more for produce certified safe or organic, according to research commissioned by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Carrefour are among those taking advantage of the trend. Sales of organic vegetables at one Wal-Mart store in Beijing soared 88 percent in the 12 months through November, the company said. Chinese people in 2005 bought or exported US$13.3 billion of food certified as green, a local standard that limits pesticide and chemical use, Chinese government figures show. "Chinese consumers really are serious about safe and organic foods, and they're willing to pay for them,'' said Elizabeth Harrington, chief executive officer of E. Harrington Global, a Chicago firm that contributed to the Commerce Ministry research. "Part of it is the negative publicity that has come out in recent years about everything from fake foods to contaminated baby foods to pesticides in apples.'' The Health Ministry declared 144 instances of food poisoning involving 4,922 people in October through December, a 42 percent increase in those affected from a year earlier. As wages and food production rise, "the issue has shifted from total supply to the quality of supply,'' said Huang Jikun, director of the Center for Agricultural Policy at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. "People are concerned. There's more information available and we know what we are eating.'' Song Guangxiong, a professor at North China Electricity University in Beijing, said he learned about the dangers of pesticides from a friend who runs an organic farm near the city. He now buys only organic vegetables. "There's going to be a bill for the choices we make,'' said Song, 33. "It's pretty expensive, but I think it's worth the money.'' Cost will deter many Chinese, said Wang, 42, the traditional-medicine doctor. She can afford organic foods on her US$387 monthly wage, she said. The US giant discount supermarket chain Wal-Mart started selling organic products in all of its Chinese stores - which now total 71 - in May 2005. Organic grain sales rose 33% in the 12 months through November and egg sales climbed 50%, said Jonathan Dong, a spokesman in Beijing. "Organic food is becoming increasingly popular,'' Dong said. "We see good growth potential in the long term.'' China's national standard for organic products took effect in April 2005, 15 years after the creation of the green standard. Yang Fu, 26, moved to Beijing from Sichuan province in 2004 to work for an equipment-leasing company. With more pay and access to organic produce, he has opted for the safest diet. "I don't have to worry when I buy organic food,'' he said. Story by Dune Lawrence in Beijing for Bloomberg News

Monsanto is under investigation amid allegations it sanctioned the dumping of toxic waste on sites across the country despite evidence that it would poison the landscape for generations. The activities of the US chemical giant, best-known for its support and development of Genetically Modified plants (GM / GE), are being examined by the UK government's Environment Agency and public health bodies. Monsanto manufacture GM seeds and were also the the corporation who produced Agent Orange. The focus of the investigation is a site in south Wales that has been called 'one of the most contaminated' in the country. It appears that toxic chemicals were dumped in the Brofiscin quarry in the 1960s and 1970s despite the fact there was no licence for these materials and the site was not lined or sealed. This meant a cocktail of highly poisonous chemicals has been able to escape into the environment and threatens to poison local streams and rivers. The quarry, which is on the edge of the village of Groesfaen, near Cardiff, first erupted in 2003, spilling fumes over the surrounding area. Since then surveys have found that 67 chemicals, including Agent Orange derivatives, dioxins and PCBs which could have been made only by Monsanto, are leaking from the site. The Environment Agency says that if the dumping were to take place today there would be a criminal prosecution and civil action to raise the money needed to clean up the site. However, it appears that much of the dumping was carried out during years when Britain's regime for environmental protection was more lax. Consequently, there are doubts as to how far any legal action can go or which companies should be liable for clean-up costs that are expected to run into tens of millions of pounds. A spokesman for the Environment Agency said: "Our overall aim is to understand the current risks to ground water and surface waters and to determine the most cost-effective way forward to protect the local environment and to recover costs from those liable." The Food Standards Agency, which has responsibility for food safety, together with the local council and health bodies are involved in the investigation. The Environment Agency spokesman said: "The main focus has been to identify if chemicals deposited at the quarry during the '60s and '70s are getting into surface water, groundwater, air or affecting site users. These investigations ... have confirmed that these chemicals are making their way into groundwater and surface water." The inquiry is looking at identifying which companies were responsible for the illegal dumping in order to make t