Ex-PhD student exposes transgenetic test center fraud
ecns.cn, September 21, 2016
An investigation has been launched after a former doctoral student broke news online regarding the qualification of China's national test center for genetically modified organisms.
Wei Jingliang dropped out of school from the Beijing-based Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences on April 1 this year, despite possibly receiving his doctoral degree in July 2017.
He had been a member of the Agriculture Ministry's center for safety supervision and testing of transgenetic animals and feed, also known as the national test center for GMOs, at the research institute.
According to Wei, he was appointed archivist of the transgenetic test center in mid-May 2015, prior to a triennial inspection of the center's archives in July of the same year. He was responsible for the development and management of all archives.
There is no routine records of center activities for the past three years due to time taken up by daily research tasks, Wei said. "To pass inspection, all files have to be made up within a month,"he added.
That is what Wei called fraud.
"Fraud here refers not to the test itself, but to its qualification, as triennial inspection is seen as a kind of authentication," Wei explained. "The center fabricated archives for the past three years and pretended to have to be qualified."
Wei admitted that the key point in the issue is the management of the laboratory instead of transgene tests.
In June 2015, Wei had a talk with his supervisor Li Kui and expressed his desire to quit, as he found the center kept inadequate records of all process files, which he considered inappropriate. However, Li declined his request, saying the center was following the national strategy and did not allow temporary replacement of staff members.
Wei said he quit school because he was disappointed by the degree of fraud in scientific research, and was also once given a warning by the school for his participation in a volunteer program.
As he had received no feedback after reporting the fabrication to authorities, he opted for the online posts. "My aim is to let those wrong doers take responsibility and the country fix systematic loopholes before any major accident occurs," Wei said.
"This 'fraud' is totally different from experimental data fraud as the center didn't do any experiments at all," said Luo Yunbo, a GM food expert with China Agricultural University. "Consumers should not doubt the safety of GM products," he added.
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences said a joint investigation group set up by the Agriculture Ministry will start inspection work at the center today.
