In a press conference held yesterday in Hong Kong, Greenpeace urged the Hong Kong SAR Government to take immediate measures to stop genetically engineered (GE) papaya from spreading and implement strict control to prevent the potential irreversible damage of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to the environment.

Greenpeace gave the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food Dr. Chow Yat-ngok a final warning on possible escalation of pressure if the government fails to give an acceptable response by this Friday.

Mr. Fung Chi-fai, the representative of Hong Kong Organic Farming Association (HOFA) and Dr. Simon Chau, Chairperson of Produce Green Foundation also spoke in the press conference to express their opinions from the organic industry's perspective.

"If the same food safety crisis happened in other regions like mainland China or other countries, the related government agencies would have already contacted us for more details. Surprisingly, until now we haven't even received any response of our letters from the government!" said Fung Ka-keung, Greenpeace food and agriculture campaigner.

Regarding GE food regulatory systems, Hong Kong and some developing countries in Africa and South America are the only few uncontrolled GE dumping grounds in the world.

Greenpeace released a recent lab testing result showing that unknown GE ingredients were found in the papaya samples grown in Produce Green Foundation's farm in Fanling.