The Mustard Oil Conspiracy
Quote:
The Mustard Oil Conspiracy
Ecologist, The, June, 2001 by Vandana Shiva
Mustard oil, whose production and consumption were until recently integral to India's way of life, has been banned, so as to provide a market for Monsanto's soya oil.
On 27 August 1998, the government of India banned the sale of mustard oil. On 4 September it went further and banned the sale of all unpackaged edible oils. The decision was a terrible blow to the Indian population. In many states, mustard oil is an essential constituent of the diet. It has a high oil content, is usually processed locally, and is available to the poor at low cost, especially when unpackaged. One can go so far as to say that it is an integral part of India's food economy, having been integrated into cropping and food patterns over centuries.
`Sarson', as mustard oil is called in India, is not only an edible oil. It is an important medicine in the indigenous, Ayurvedic system of health care. It is used for therapeutic massages. Oil mixed with garlic and turmeric is used to alleviate symptoms of rheumatism, and muscular and joint pains. It is also used as a mosquito repellant, a significant contribution in a region where the resurgence of malaria is responsible for thousands of deaths.
In other words, mustard oil is central to Indian culture. It is the symbol of spring and renewal. The yellow of the mustard flower is the colour of spring. Songs on the theme of `Sarson' are an integral part of folk culture. Makki ki roti and Sarson ka Saag (corn bread with vegetables and mustard leaves) is the best known food linked to Punjab culture and identity. Mustard oil is the olive oil of Bihar, Bengal, Orissa and East Uttar Pradesh.
For Bengalis, Hilsa fish fried in mustard oil is the ultimate delight, and North Indians like their pakoras fried in it because of the unique taste and aroma. In the South, mustard seeds are the preferred seasoning for vegetables, rice curd, and so on.
The pretext for banning mustard oil, which was produced on a small scale by artisanal methods, is that it is unhygienic and therefore unsafe. It is nice to know that our government is so concerned about the health of the people who elected it to power. But why has it shown so little interest in this issue before? It has never taken any action to limit the use of the carcinogenic pesticides that were introduced on a vast scale with the Green Revolution. It has never taken any action to prevent the radioactive pollution caused by the nuclear industry in those areas where its nuclear installations have been set up, in spite of the fact that ionising radiation is the best documented of all carcinogenic pollutants. Why then this sudden concern with public health?
The connection was difficult to ignore. The first hint came in July 1998, when the government announced plans to import as much as a million tons of soyabean as oil seeds. These oil seeds were previously on the list of restricted imports. Citizen groups and the Agriculture Ministry challenged the decision on the grounds that the imports were not necessary. The second clue came on 27 August 1998. On the very day on which the government announced the ban of the sale of mustard oil, it also announced that all restrictions on the import of the soyabean would be removed. Concerns regarding food safety were now raised, particularly as there was no guarantee that imports would not include soyabean contaminated with alien genes, that is, genetically modified soya. In the face of this opposition the government needed to find a more convincing justification for their action.
This was conveniently provided during the month of August of that year when a terrible tragedy unfolded in Delhi and elsewhere: an epidemic of what was referred to as `dropsy'. The symptoms were nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal swelling, kidney damage, breathlessness due to retention of fluid in the lungs, and even death due to heart and liver failure. In all, 41 people died and some 2,300 were affected. This tragedy was traced to the consumption of mustard oil that had been adulterated with argemone, and also with diesel oil and waste industrial oil.
There had been cases of mustard oil adulteration in the past, but nothing on this scale. Argemone had been found as a contaminant before, but never in more than 0.1 per cent of the available mustard oil on the market. In this case 10-30 per cent of the oil had been adulterated. The use of diesel and waste oil was also something new. Indeed, it looked very much as if someone had set out deliberately to adulterate the oil. In any case, this was the view of the Health Minister, who stated that the tragedy could only have been the product of a conspiracy. There was no other way to explain why the contamination was so extensive.
Whether the conspiracy theory was justified or not, it was considered likely by many people. The Rajasthan Oil Industries Association, for instance, demanded a government inquiry and insisted that punitive action be taken against those found guilty of adulterating the oil supply. But the question remained: who could have been motivated to commit such a crime?
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https://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...31/ai_76285485
I visited an Indian grocery yesterday to buy fava beans and bamboo shoots.
I saw mustard oil and wondered how it was used.
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For now we see through a glass, darkly.... 1st Corinthians 13:12
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01-18-2008, 08:09 PM
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