GREENPEACE has warned that strains of GM rice could enter the global market through the back door, as the rice is sold illegally in China, The Guardian reports.

This illicit trade is said to be taking place even though the Chinese government is still debating whether the country should become the first in the world to switch to transgenic rice.

Greenpeace has argued, however, that scientists and seed factories may be attempting to force the authorities into a pro-GM decision by making the crop so widely available that there will be no turning back.

No licences for commercial production of GM rice have been granted so far in China, and the ongoing field trials are supposed to take place in controlled conditions, according to The Guardian.

But Greenpeace said at least 29 tonnes of GM rice seeds, capable of producing as much as 14,500 tonnes of rice, had been illegally sold in Hubei this year.

“This calls into question the whole regulatory environment surrounding GE rice,” Greenpeace campaigner Sze Pang Cheung told the newspaper.

“It may be that researchers are taking advantage of the weak law enforcement in Hubei province so that as much rice as possible is contaminated and people have to take it for granted.”