Iran imported $5.5 billion worth of genetically modified food products last year, which are threatening the health of consumers, the head of Iran Organic Association, Reza Nourani said Tuesday. A variety of GM products, chiefly rice and cooking oil, is imported while much of the organic crops produced in the country are exported, he said, urging the government to keep genetically modified products out of the domestic food supply chain, IRNA reported. Imports mainly come from Brazil, Argentina, Canada and the US which do not declare them as GM products “in violation of the Cartagena Convention”, Behzad Qareyazi director of Agricultural Biotechnology Research Institute of Iran, affiliated to the Agriculture Jihad Ministry, had stated earlier in July. The government in Tehran supports GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) technology seeing it crucial to future food security, and the country has made great strides in biotechnology, cloning its first sheep in 2006. Earlier this year, Iran signed several agreements with France for cooperation in production of GM fruit and livestock.
