Modified rice in Japan

The revered status of rice in Japanese society makes uncertain how the public will respond to genetically modified rice in their local shops. However, the Japanese have historically welcomed improvements to rice while viewing its importation with more suspicion. Thus, by forming a 50-50 joint venture located in Shizuoka, Japan with Japan Tobacco, Zeneca Agrochemicals may have avoided a contentious issue.

Together, the two companies have an extensive collection of fungal disease control genes that will form the first focus for the venture, said Jon Scharingson, field crops manager for Zeneca's biotechnology group. The companies will introduce genes into rice varieties owned by JT (Tokyo) to confer resistance to rice blast, a fungal disease that occurs worldwide. Scharingson said the modified crops will be targeted first at the U.S. followed by Japan and other large rice growing markets, including China, India and Thailand...