The second GEP party was held successfully at Italian hall in School of Environment on 2015.6.11. GEP party has become one of the series theme activities of global environment program; others include professor interview and meet of exchange. This time we invited nearly 15 foreign students from Pakistan, India, Nepal, England, France and German. Topic of lunch party this time is “the environment problem I most concern.

The GEP party started at about 11:45. The organizers provided enough vegetarian and Muslim food for foreign students of different diet custom. This arrangement was generally welcomed. After brief speech, the party went on well with free talk. Most time several GEP students and one foreign student gathered together, sharing their opinion on specific issue. Topics involvedranged from home tradition to Chinese culture, from environment problem to human health.

When talking about the heated environment topic, Victor, our Mexico friend highlighted the problem of genetically modified food. Transgenic food is common in Mexico, but its appearancearoused controversy recently, especially corn. Victor pointed out that the existence of transgenic food product is extremely frequent in China, vegetables and fruits usually have huge size and inferior taste. Besides he mentioned that, China’s hybrid rice is welcomed in South America and Africa, while rejected by developed countries. In response, GEP students rectified that hybrid rice and huge size fruits in China are actually not transgenic food. To say the least, transgenic technology is necessary in China, considering the stressed population, to guarantee food safety and sufficiency. Still, it’s the utilization of chemical fertilizer and pesticides more than transgenic technology that threatens food and environment safety.

GEP lunch party lasted for around an hour, climate change and disposal of dangerous waste were also mentioned. This is the last GEP party in this semester; we look forward to meet our foreign friends in October.