The Coalition for a GM-free India has urged the government to take strict action on illegal genetically modified (GM) soybean seeds being allegedly imported in India.
The coalition said this is in violation of the Environmental Protection Act and the 2006 DGFT notification.
"We have been importing soy seeds from the USA and Ukraine, for instance. The US is known to have mostly GM soyabean (94%) and Ukraine has had its soy exports been reported and cancelled by Russia for having GM contamination.
"Import of GM soybean seeds has not been approved in India," said the Coalition to the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) under the Environment Ministry and Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) in separate letters.
The Coalition also said that it suspects that several consignments from GM soybean producing countries are transferred mid-sea, and hence, the source and country of origin are obfuscated as well.
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