Transgenic soybean becomes the main raw material imported by domestic edible oil enterprises

Introduction: dongfang.com news on May 7: a newly appeared "guide to avoiding genetically modified food" has brought to the surface a fact that cannot be ignored: in the markets of Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing, more than 90% of edible oils clearly indicate that they use genetically modified soybeans Song ranping, deputy director of Greenpeace China project cooperation office, said: "in the course of the investigation, we found that most of the soybean salad oil and blending oil in China contain genetically modified ingredients It's not easy to buy a bottle of non GMO soybean oil in the supermarket! Although these products are labeled with transgene according to relevant regulations, consumers have the right to know, but they have no choice " Why does genetically modified edible oil occupy the majority of the domestic market? What is the charm of genetically modified raw materials for oil production enterprises? What can we do to protect the domestic soybean industry? At present, transgenic soybean has played an important role in the domestic oil market According to statistics, in 2003, soybean imports reached 20 million tons, while domestic soybean production reached about 16 million tons In the first five months of last year, soybean sales to China accounted for more than a third of U.S soybean sales, or 8.2 million tons, according to U.S data According to the statistics of Chinese customs, China's huge demand for soybeans has led to a sharp increase of us soybeans imports in 2003 to US $2.9 billion compared with the previous year, and 70% of us soybeans are genetically modified soybeans China's soybean cultivation has a history of more than 5000 years, known as the "hometown of soybean" Why is genetically modified soybean popular in China? The basic reason is that the domestic soybean consumption is about 30 million tons, while the domestic soybean output is only about 15-16 million tons, and the huge demand gap makes the imported soybean indispensable However, Shi Pengxiang, director of Greenpeace China project cooperation office, pointed out that under the premise that the prices of genetically modified and non genetically modified soybeans are similar, genetically modified soybeans with low transportation cost, accurate arrival time and stable quality for each batch are more likely to win the hearts of domestic oil crushing plants that pay attention to commercial interests and strict quality control The reporter with the greatest advantage of high oil yield learned that genetically modified soybeans are popular for the following reasons: first, the oil yield is about 5% higher than that of domestic soybeans, which can bring more economic benefits Secondly, large-scale crushing plants need a single variety of soybeans with similar quality, and large-scale production of genetically modified soybeans is easy to control the quality Most of the domestic soybean production areas have not formed intensive production mode From harvesting to market entry, domestic soybeans are easy to be mixed with miscellaneous soybeans; thirdly, major soybean producing countries such as the United States have considerable agricultural subsidies for soybean farmers, which makes soybean farmers have the "cost" of selling soybeans cheaply, which improves the price competitiveness; finally, imported genetically modified soybeans have low transportation cost and accurate arrival time The main production areas of domestic soybeans are concentrated in the three northeastern provinces, which need to go south by railway Domestic soybeans are not only costly and time-consuming in transportation, but also difficult to control in arrival time If soybeans are to be shipped out during the Spring Festival, they may arrive one month later than scheduled Even in the off peak period, domestic soybeans are sometimes delayed when they are transported from the Northeast Railway to the southern cities At present, many people begin to worry about a large number of imported genetically modified soybeans from the perspectives of food safety, protection of domestic soybean industry, protection of species diversity and so on From the perspective of human eating safety, the world food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization both said that there are not enough scientific means to assess the risk of genetically modified food, and they suggested that we should be cautious in eating Xue Dayuan, a biosafety expert in China and deputy director of the Biosafety Management Office of the State Environmental Protection Administration, once said: "genetically modified food has not brought benefits to consumers in terms of nutrition, but on the contrary, there may be potential risks." From the perspective of protecting domestic soybean industry, in the face of the pressure of imported soybean, the livelihood of nearly 40 million soybean farmers in China also has potential crisis On the one hand, some multinational companies are applying for patent rights on individual soybean seeds to control soybean resources On the other hand, under the condition that market demand will not expand rapidly, the sales volume of non GM Soybeans Planted by Chinese farmers and imported GM soybeans, to some extent, is the relationship between the growth and decline Another serious consequence of transgenic soybean is that it has biological damage Once farmers grow this kind of soybean, transgenic soybean will affect the species characteristics of Chinese soybean China is the origin and diversity of soybean Once the original characters of wild soybean are destroyed, it means the genetic diversity is destroyed, which will seriously threaten the food security Wang Dehui, assistant inspector of the natural and ecological protection department of the State Environmental Protection Administration, said: "the potential threat and risk of genetically modified organisms to China's biodiversity, ecological environment and human health are increasing." In 2001, scientists found that more than 300 kinds of corn resources in Mexico were polluted by imported genetically modified corn Experts worry that the same thing will happen again in China.