February 19, 2016
A scientist associated with the Pasdaran has accused the United States and Israel of a death plot to kill Iranians en masse by selling Iran genetically modified foods.
Ali Karami, a specialist in medical biotechnology and genetic engineering, believes an “import mafia” is behind the distribution of genetically modified products. He thus made his conspiracy theory into a crime by Iranians as well as by foreigners.
But he said nothing about the Iranian government, which has long supported research into genetically modified foods and now sells Iranian farmers rice seedlings that are genetically modified in Iran.
Karami claimed to have received death threats after his first interview with the Tasnim news agency was published a month ago, the news agency said as it published the second part of his remarks Monday. PressTV, the English language arm of state broadcasting, carried a long story on Karami’s charges.
“The mafia importing certain genetically modified products even kills for its interests. Be careful,” said Karami, who is a lecturer at the Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, which is run by the Pasdaran.
“The fact is the lives of people are not important to American and Israeli companies because profitable businesses are involved.
“First, the contaminated food causes illness and then the patient needs drugs and medication. This is capitalism, where money is the criteria and pharmaceuticals and medicine is a multi-trillion-dollar industry,” he said.
The United States bars most exports to Iran, but foodstuffs and medical materials are excluded. Karami saw a true conspiracy in those two exclusions.
He also said the proliferation of genetically modified products is part of a “dangerous plot to control Iran, the Middle East and the Islamic world in general.”
The United States has made wide use of genetically modified food products for many years. The vast majority of them are sold inside the United States. Many of the modifications are designed to make the foods resistant to insects.
But the whole concept of genetic modification is widely opposed among Europeans.
Last year, Iran imported $5.5 billion of genetically modified products, the head of the Iranian Organic Association, Ali Nourani, said recently, adding that such imports were threatening the health of consumers. Last year, Iran’s imports from the United States of foodstuffs totaled just $50.4 million. And Iran imports nothing from Israel. So, 99.1 percent of all the genetically modified food imported by Iran would have to come from other countries that Karami did not name.
Nourani said the main genetically modified products imported into Iran were rice and cooking oil.
He said Iran’s embrace of genetically modified products made no economic sense. “Iranian society is not starving to say we must move toward genetically modified products, which amounts to toying with the health of the people,” Nourani said.
The Iranian government supports genetic modification technology, which it sees as crucial for future food security.
Genetically modified rice is already being grown in Iran for human consumption. In May, the first sample of Iran’s genetically modified cotton was unveiled by the Agriculture Ministry.
Earlier this year, Iran signed several agreements with France for cooperation on production of genetically modified fruit and livestock.
