Professor Yeh's GM papayas never did pass a Council of Agriculture field test safety assessment, but with papaya growers clamoring for the improved strain, GM seedlings made their way out of the lab and spread rapidly across Taiwan, leading to a big furor over the "pollution" of Taiwan's organically grown papayas by GM plants.
葉錫東的基改木瓜始終未能通過農委會田間試驗安全評估，農民不堪苦苦等候，乾脆「盜用」基改木瓜種苗，一傳十、十傳百，基改木瓜已經傳遍台灣各地，甚至還曾因「污染」有機木瓜園，而引發一場不小的撻伐。