Hyderabad: Soybean oil, which is commonly sold in markets, is mostly a genetically engineered product if it is imported. Imports and consumption of GE soybean and mustard oil are increasing.
Dr B.V. Mehta, executive director of Solvent Extractors’ Association of India, the premier association of the vegetable oil industry and trade, said its members were importing crude soybean oil and mustard oil of genetically engineered origin and refining them in the country and selling them.
“We are importing crude soybean and mustard oil of both GM and non GM origins. We are importing around 1.2 million tonne of GM origin oil every year. We demand that the government allow us to import oil seed at least during the off season in India so that oil can be extracted here. It will help the growth of the industry. China, which was earlier the world’s largest importer of edible oil, is actually importing oil seed instead of crude oil,” said Mr Mehta.
The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee had given the green signal for import of GM soybean oil, stating that a highly processed food like oil did not contain detectable DNA or proteins. It quoted a report of the Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysuru, which tested the oil samples.
Mr Mehta, supporting the introduction of GM crops, said productivity would be 20 to 30 per cent higher and would end the suffering of farmers. “Canola oil from Canada is of GM origin and almost 100 per cent of soybean oil is from genetically engineered crops. Oils originating from Canada, the US, Brazil and South American countries are of GM origin and those from Europe are non-GM,” he added.
Social activists and a section of experts and several associations of farmers were strongly opposed to imports of GM oils. Mr Kirankumar Vissa, a social activist with the Rythu Swarajya Vedike said, “Leaders of the biggest farmer unions have called the efforts to push GM crops into farms and food nothing but anti-farmer. A misleading argument has been going around that India is already consuming imported GM oil, and this fact is being the rationale for approving commercial cultivation within the country. We have strongly objected to the decisions to allow import of GM canola and soybean oil. These are untested products, and lack of any scientific research on their adverse impact cannot be construed to be proof of safety.”
Mr Vissa said the imported GM oil constituted only 10-11 per cent of India’s edible oil consumption. “In fact, imported GM canola oil is less than 2 per cent of our total consumption,” he said.
Mr Yudhvir Singh of Bharatiya Kisan Union said, “Real farmer organisations have never asked for GM crops.” Farmers unions were divided over introduction of GM crops. Consortium of Indian Farmers Associations chief adviser P. Chengal Reddy said, “The Centre is allowing import of genetic mustard and genetic soya oil since 2007. The government has distributed genetic mustard, soya and cotton as edible oils in the public distribution system. “These are produced by American, Brazilian and Canadian farmers. We want to know why Indian farmers are denied the technology.”
