GM Soyameal

Description

Context

For the first time ever, India will import 15 lakh tonnes of genetically modified (GM) soyameal to help the poultry industry tide over the crisis of high feed prices.

Background

The chicken business has been badly hit due to the commodity prices and covid.
Now, the demand has started coming back. However, raw material prices increased from Rs 40/kg a year ago to Rs 95/kg.
The shortage of soyameal is really big.

About

The Ministry of Forest and Climate Change has said that since soya de-oiled cake and crushed cake does not contain any living modified organism, the Ministry has no objection for import of soya cake or meal from the environmental angle.
Hence, import of soya meal will not be subjected to the Schedule 1 of GEAC import policy approval as it is a non-living organism.
Anything which is non-food (not consumed by humans) is not within the ambit of the FSSAI Act, 2006, and therefore feed is not regulated by FSSAI.
Note: India has been importing GM soyabean oil and also consumes locally produced GM cotton seed oil.
Bt cotton is the only genetically modified (GM) crop that has been approved for commercial cultivation in 2002.

What are GM crops?

GM food involves the editing of genes of a crop in such a way that it incorporates beneficial traits from another crop or organism.
This could mean changing the way the plant grows, or making it resistant to a particular disease.
Food produced using the edited crop is called GM food. This is done using the tools of genetic engineering.

Advantages of GM crops

Why is there stiff opposition to GM crops?

India has one of the strongest regulatory protocols for field trials of GM crops.
Genetically engineered foods often present unintended side effects.
Genetic engineering is a new field, and long-term results are unclear. Very little testing has been done on GM food.
Some crops have been engineered to create their own toxins against pests. This may harm non-targets such as farm animals that ingest them.
The toxins can also cause allergy and affect digestion in humans.
Further, GM crops are modified to include antibiotics to kill germs and pests.
And when we eat them, these antibiotic markers will persist in our body and will render actual antibiotic medications less effective over a period of time, leading to superbug threats.
This means illnesses will become more difficult to cure.
Besides health and environmental concerns, activists point to social and economic issues.
They have voiced serious concern about multinational agribusiness companies taking over farming from the hands of small farmers.
People in general are wary of GM crops as they are engineered in a lab and do not occur in Nature.

World scenario

Only 29 countries allow commercial cultivation of GM crops while a similar number also allow their import.
And most of the 170 million hectares under GM crops are in the USA, Brazil, Argentina, India and China.

98% of GM cultivation falls under four main crops: soyabean, maize, cotton and canola.

Way Ahead

GM Crops can withstand drought, resist pests and raise yields to feed the growing world population.
But this should be done through a transparent regulatory process that is free of ethical conflicts.
All this underscores the need for a cautious approach — one that fosters scientific inquiry, allows for scrutiny and is underpinned by regulation.
Enacting a comprehensive law that covers all aspects of GM crops should be a priority.

GEAC

GEAC is apex body under Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change for regulating manufacturing, use, import, export and storage of hazardous micro-organisms or genetically engineered organisms (GMOs) and cells in the country.
It is also responsible for giving technical approval of proposals relating to release of GMOs and products including experimental field trials.
However, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change gives final approval for GMOs.