(ECNS) -- The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture has halted operations at a national testing center for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) after investigators found the center in violation of management rules during its preparations for a qualification review by the ministry last year.
The ministry said in a post on its website Thursday that it probed into the alleged fabrication of documents at the center reported by Hao Jingliang, a former doctoral student, on Zhihu.com, and discovered violations by the center in their preparation of materials, archive management and employment of personnel.
The ministry made a decision to suspend the center's operation and allow a six-month grace period to make corrections and improvements, and to revoke its qualification certificate if it fails to meet standards by the end of the grace period.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences was told to seriously punish those responsible for the violations.
The Beijing-based center for safety supervision, inspection and testing of transgenetic animals and feed, better known as the national test center for GMOs, was built based on resources at the Institute of Animal Sciences (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences).
The center was accredited as a ministerial-level transgenetic inspection and testing agency for GM animals and feed, to ensure that they were environmentally safe.
From July 20 to 22, 2015, the ministry sent an expert panel to review the center's qualifications. To be fully prepared, from May to July, a few months ahead of the inspection, the center made up for missing archives that ranged from personnel training to usage of materials and devices, as well as meeting minutes, investigators found.
Also, during the 2015 review, four graduate students were hired to serve as the center's inspectors and archivists. Some of the testing tasks during an on-the-spot review session were carried out by graduate students in the name of the center's inspectors, which violated rules of personnel management, the ministry said.
However, the ministry did not find any fabrications in the testing processes or data.
The ministry said it only entrusted the center to conduct two experimental testing tasks in December 2011, and that the center carried out both indoor and outdoor tests according to a plan passed by experts. It issued reports in October 2015, which were backed by records of testing processes and data, therefore there were no fabrication problems, the ministry explained. However, the center did not give the original records to archivists for further management, it was added.
So far, the center has never issued any testing reports on GM products that have been granted safety certificates, the ministry said.
