China approves GM soybeans: a breakthrough of biotech diplomacy

The development of Argentine commercial plant biotechnology is that recognized worldwide and this Friday is now confirmed biotech diplomacy is at the top of European and North American: soybeans with biotechnological event HB4 with drought tolerance has been approved for use and marketing in China.

Success is part of the job many state agenciesbut mainly from the company that developed the product, Bioceres. The company founded by 23 producers with 600 pesos per share, now listed on the NASDAQ, is fulfilling its promise to be the bridge between Argentine science and the global market because it has succeeded in advancing all the steps to that the idea is a business knowledge economy: an investigation that began in Rachel Chan |The CONICET scientist found HB4 in the DNA chain of the sunflower.

The approval event of the largest importer of soybeans in the world was joined by those of the United States, Brazil and of course Argentina. Now the four largest soybean producers in the world including Paraguay and Canada release HB4 soybeans for its use and consumption with double implications: they become a market for soybeans and also for the HB4 gene.

Around the world grew every year 121 million hectares of soybean and now 80% of that area has allowed the use of seeds containing the sunflower gene.

The gene has also been successfully introduced into wheat and this development has been partially allowed in Brazil (consumption of HB4 wheat flour is allowed), the main consumer of Argentine wheat. With this approval, the Brazilian regulatory body will no longer have to seek arguments to fully ban its use, safe HB4 technology.

The delay is pending new seed law protecting the intellectual property of breeders in Argentina; it is impossible for the knowledge economy to thrive if knowledge creators are not paid. It would be a sad paradox if drought -resistant soybeans were a reality all over the world other than the country that developed them.