Beijing - China is on the verge of introducing genetically engineered rice on a large scale as it seeks ways to adequately supply the basic staple to its people, who make up one-fifth of the world's population.

Shrinking acreage, falling water tables and a population that is expected to grow significantly beyond 1.3 billion are factors that have led China to explore other ways to feed its hungry residents.

According to supporters of the rice, it will enable farmers to do away with widespread use of dangerous pesticides that effect their health and harm the environment.

They also make much of the fact that it will result in better yields and higher quality grain that will spur farmers' incomes.

Its critics say the long-term effects on human health have not been properly studied and it will create more resistant pests.

"It is very probable that rice genetically modified will be introduced in China next year," said Xue Dayuan, a professor at the Institute of Environmental Sciences in Nanjing.

"The ministry of agriculture will organise a meeting of the committee on bio-safety on this subject at the end of November and beginning of December," he said.

Since the late 1990s, authorities have been busy researching and developing genetically modified crops, a hugely sensitive and divisive issue around the world, but so far have refrained from considering rice safe for consumption.

"At the current time, we are conducting experiments, usually on a small scale, to test a great number of varieties of rice," said Zhu Zhen, a professor with the Institute of Genetics and Biology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

According to Zhu, "the results are positive" and the rice was "particularly effective against butterflies and moths, which are the main harmful insects" to rice crops.

However, not all scientists share his optimism and caution the bigger picture is not being taken into account.

"Genetically engineered rice kills the insects which eat it," said Xue. "But the consequences on other species are not known."

China, the world's top producer and consumer of rice, has been tentative in its approach to genetically engineered (GE) crops, and to date has only allowed 59 varieties of six types of modified crops, mostly cotton, according to state media.

Until now, no single staple food, such as rice and soybean, has been approved, although oil produced with GE-soyabeans from the United States or Brazil is consumed in China.

Despite the concerns, once the government green light is obtained, production licences should quickly be granted, said Sze Pang Cheung, a Greenpeace representative in Beijing.

According to the environmental organisation, the introduction of GM rice on a large scale would be an irreversible process, truly a "time bomb" with effects on the environment and health that could easily get out of hand.

"GE cotton was first only commercialised in two provinces in 1998 and it just spread," said Sze.

"There is no way to block it. The farmers exchange the feed, they carry it to other places. The seed companies set up shops with people who don't even know about the regulations."

He claimed GM biotechnology was not just an issue of science for scientists and policymakers.

"It could endanger our social and physical environment."

With the largest population in the world, China depends heavily on its food supply and the government is wary of any bad publicity about the rice.

It remains unclear whether the product would be labelled as genetically modified on supermarket shelves, giving consumers their right to choose.

In 2003 Greenpeace commissioned Zhongshan University in Guangzhou to conduct a survey on the southern city's consumers' attitudes towards GM products.

It found most of the 1 000 consumers polled preferred food commodities containing no GM ingredients, while 87 percent thought transgenic food products should be labelled.

Almost half of the respondents said they would pay a higher price for GM-free food. - AFP