Chinese scientist convicted of theft

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Published: February 23, 2017

(Reuters) — A Chinese scientist in Kansas has been convicted of conspiring to steal samples of genetically modified rice seeds from a U.S. research facility.

Weiqiang Zhang worked as a rice breeder for Ventria Bioscience Inc., which develops GM rice used in the therapeutic and medical fields.

He stole seeds and provided them to employees of a crop research institute in China when they visited him in 2013 in Kansas.

Customs officers found seeds in the visitors’ luggage as they were returning to China.

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