The Hindu Business Line : Ajit Singh softens stand on GM soya oil import

HAS the Union Agriculture Minister, Mr Ajit Singh, softened his position on restricting import of soya oil derived from genetically modified (GM) soyabean? Going by his statement made in the Lok Sabha on Monday, it does seem so.

In his reply to a starred question, the Minister said the "distinction between GM soyabean oil and non-GM soyabean oil is not possible by available analytical methods when the oils are refined'' and "refined GM soya oil does not contain genetically modified protein and DNA''.

Further, he said the distinction between GM and non-GM oils could be made only for non-refined oils and that too using "very sophisticated and sensitive methods like Polymerase Chain Reaction''.

Compare this to what Mr Ajit Singh had to say in a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, dated March 26, 2002. In the letter, Mr Singh had expressed concern over the country importing huge quantities of soyaoil from Argentina, Brazil and the US. Considering the widespread cultivation of GM soyabean in these countries, "there is a strong likelihood that the soya oil being imported by us from these sources has been extracted from transgenic soyabean,'' the letter pointed out.

Further, Mr Singh urged the Prime Minister "to kindly impress upon the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to take urgent steps to issue a notification under the Environment Protection Act, 1986 binding importers to declare whether the commodity being imported is of GM origin and in case it is of GM origin, to obtain necessary permit from the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) for its importation''.

Rule 11 of the Rules for the Manufacture, Use, Import, Export and Storage of Hazardous Micro-organisms/Genetically Engineered Organisms or Cells notified under EPA 1986 provides that foodstuffs, ingredients in foodstuffs and additives, including processing aids, containing or consisting of genetically engineered organisms or cells shall not be produced, sold, imported or used, "except with the approval of the GEAC''.

Industry observers feel that Mr Singh's admission of it not being technically feasible to distinguish between GM and non-GM refined soyabean oil is indicative of a considerable dilution of his earlier `hardline' stance. But that does not still put an end to the current uncertainty faced by importers, particularly companies such as Adani Wilmar, Cargill, Ruchi Soya, Agritech Foods and Liberty Oil, who import crude degummed soya oil and refine and market the same.

Mr Singh has, indeed, further complicated matters for imported oil refiners by observing that the distinction between GM and non-GM soya oil was relevant only in the case of non-refined (crude) oil and not for refined oils, which do not contain GM protein or DNA matter. And this is significant in the light of the fact that the country's imports of soya oil now largely consist of crude de-gummed oil.

According to the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA), imports of de-gummed crude soyaoil have soared from 626,758 tonnes in the 1998-99 oil year (November-October) to 687,379 tonnes in 1999-2000 and 14,14,937 tonnes in 2000-01. During the ongoing 2001-02 oil year till March 2002, crude soya oil imports stood at 280,399 tonnes, against 222,219 tonnes in the corresponding period of the previous oil year.

On the other hand, imports of refined soya oil has dropped from 246,624 tonnes in 1998-99 to a mere 19,000 tonnes and 7,000 tonnes in the subsequent two years, with not a single tonne being imported during the current oil year. Soya oil accounted for almost 30 per cent of the country's total edible oil imports of 48.34 lakh tonnes during the 2000-01 oil year.

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