NEW DELHI: Farmer and food activists have alleged that genetically modified soya bean seeds are being imported “illegally” for cultivation, in violation of a directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) notification of 2006 that prohibits the import of GMOs without approval from the genetic engineering appraisal committee (GEAC).

Some activists have also found imported packaged foods containing GM ingredients being sold in departmental stores, one of which is a cake mix. The screening of GM products is lax, activists said in a statement on Monday. “We suspect packaged foods containing soya bean or corn seed imported from US may be genetically modified, there is no segregation there. All these products should be checked for GM ingredients,” said Kavitha Kuruganti of the GM free coalition.

As of now, no genetically modified food crop has been allowed for commercialization in India, only Bt cotton has been commercialised. According to the GM free coalition, an alliance of farmer activists, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has stated in its public records that they export soya bean seeds to India. "We have been importing soy seeds from US and Ukraine, for instance. US is known to have mostly GM soya bean (94%) and Ukraine has had its soy exports been reported and cancelled by Russia for having GM contamination. Import of GM soya bean seeds has not been approved in India." said the Coalition to the GEAC and DGFT in separate letters recently. Their main fear is that import of GM soya bean will affect the Indian soya bean industry by contaminating non-GM varieties.

The GEAC has issued a “one time approval” for import of GM soya bean oil for consumption after refining, but no approval has been given to GM soya bean seeds. However, in their sales export data, USDA states US exporting 500 tons of soya bean to India in 2017-18 and 1200 tons of soya bean in 2016-17. In USDA's 2017 report on India Oilseeds and Products, USDA states "In recent years, India imported soybeans from Ethiopia, Benin, Ukraine, the United States, Nigeria, and Djibouti. Imports were mostly for food use and as also partly for seed."

Last year, government authorities in Gujarat had seized herbicide tolerant genetically modified soya bean crop and arrested a couple of farmers and a seed distributor in Aravalli district for allegedly storing and selling GM herbicide tolerant soya bean. Members of Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) got seed samples tested and found them to be genetically modified. Manganbhai Patel of BKS had also complained to GEAC against “hazardous and unapproved spread of GM crop.” But in response to an RTI query by Kavitha Kuruganti from GM free coalition on the status of complaints from Gujarat, GEAC replied this January that “no complaint has been received from Gujarat on HT soya bean illegal cultivation.”

Patel from BKS said “GEAC still hasn’t replied to our complaint. The herbicide tolerant soya bean seeds that were seized are still lying stored. Affected farmers have got no compensation. We have no hopes from the government; they always support the MNCs and cover up such lapses.”

What does the DGFT 2006 notification state?

Import of GM food, feed, GMOs and Living Modified Organisms (LMOs) will be subject to the following conditions:

* The import of GMOs / LMOs for the purpose of (i) R & D; (ii) Food; (iii) Feed; (iv) Processing in Bulk and (v) For Environment release will be governed by the provisions of the Environment Protection Act, 1986 and Rules 1989.

* The import of any food, feed, raw or processed or any ingredient of food, food additives or any food product that contains GM material and is being used either for industrial production, environmental release, or field application will be allowed only with the approval of the GEAC.

* Institutes / Companies who wish to import GM material for R & D purposes will submit their proposal to the Review Committee for Genetic Modification (RCGM) under the Department of Bio-Technology.

* At the time of import all consignments containing products which have been subjected to genetic modification will carry a declaration stating that the product is genetically modified.

Health concerns raised by activists:

Glyphosate, the herbicide which was being used on the soybean in Gujarat and a widely used herbicide globally has been referred to as 'probably carcinogenic' by World Health Organization 's cancer agency. Glyphosate has not been permitted to be used in India on soybean by Central Insecticides Board and Registration Committee. It has been recently banned by Sri Lanka after being linked to kidney disease.

