Regarding biosafety issues of genetically modified organisms, China and the international community should strictly abide by the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety [i] and use the precautionary principle to deal with risks to the environment and human health caused by genetically modified organisms. This principle is also adopted in other countries, regions and international laws as an important means to protect the environment and human health, and has become the legal basis for the international supervision of genetically modified organisms. The precautionary principle states that the lack of scientific knowledge or scientific consensus should not necessarily be interpreted as indicating that there is a degree of risk, no risk, or an acceptable risk.
Regarding the use of antibiotic resistance genes in GM foods, the international community, including scientific institutions, will use the following regulations as a precautionary principle. In 2003, Article 58 of the Guidelines for the Risk Assessment of Genetically Modified Plant Foods jointly issued by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) stated: "Antibiotic resistance genes that are resistant to clinically applied antibiotics should not be "[ii] appears in food. The EU decided to ban the use of antibiotic-resistant markers from 2004 [iii]. In 2007, the World Health Organization (WHO) classified kanamycin, neomycin, and tetracycline as the second class according to the importance of drugs. It is an important class of antibiotics [iv], which means kanamycin resistance gene, tetracycline Antibiotic resistance genes such as resistance genes should not appear in foods. The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) agreed with the World Health Organization (WHO) that kanamycin should be classified as a medically important drug [v].
Therefore, Greenpeace also recommended that relevant government departments strictly abide by the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and deal with the risks of genetically modified organisms to the environment and human health with the precautionary principle; immediately evaluate the genetically modified papaya containing antibiotic resistance genes for consumption. Health hazards; further improvement of the safety assessment system for genetically modified organisms; the use of antibiotic resistance genes as marker genes in transgenic studies is strictly prohibited.