GM food for thought

At least for the next few months, consumers in India will not know whether they are eating imported processed food that contains genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The country’s regulation on this has fallen into no-man’s-land. As reported by ‘The Indian Express’, the ministry of environment issued a notification exempting regulation on GM processed food in the country. Its rationale is that since GMOs cannot be replicated from a processed form, it is not an environmental issue. Health and safety aspects shall be regulated by the new authority to be formed under the Food Standards and Safety Act 2005. The authority is yet to see light of day after one year of the bill being passed. Sonu Jain lays out the issue

• What does the absence of a regulatory authority mean for GMO food?

GMO-containing food is becoming all-pervasive. In the WTO regime, it is important for countries to have their regulations in place if they care about consumer choice. A total of 51 countries have granted 539 regulatory approvals for various GM crops and GM food products since 1996 to 2006. The top ten countries with the most approvals granted are the US (77 approvals) followed by Japan (76), Canada (57), South Korea (46), Australia (40), Phillipines (36), Mexico (36), New Zealand (34), the EU (27), China (25).

In India, so far only Bt cotton has been cleared for commercial use. For all processed food, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) would regulate the imports before the notification.

• What is the implication for processed food?

Most additives used in processed food ranging from baby food to margarine and tomato ketchup contain derivatives of GMO. Though health hazards directly associated with GMOs have not been established conclusively, it is felt that it is important for consumers to be given information and choice on whether they want to buy food with some form of GMOs. India imports considerable corn and soyabean oil. India imported two million tonnes of soya Oil in 2004-05. Labelling is one means of ensuring a way to trace the origins of these GMOs.

• What is the international debate on labelling?

The International Codex Committee on food labelling is yet to include mandatory labelling for GM food, thanks to pressure from the US. EU has introduced mandatory labelling for which it was hauled to the WTO.

... contd.

Ads By Google

Message*	Maximum characters allowed

Name*		Email ID*
Subject*		Country*

TERMS OF USE:
The views, opinions and comments posted are your, and are not endorsed by this website. You shall be solely responsible for the comment posted here. The website reserves the right to delete, reject, or otherwise remove any views, opinions and comments posted or part thereof. You shall ensure that the comment is not inflammatory, abusive, derogatory, defamatory &/or obscene, or contain pornographic matter and/or does not constitute hate mail, or violate privacy of any person (s) or breach confidentiality or otherwise is illegal, immoral or contrary to public policy. Nor should it contain anything infringing copyright &/or intellectual property rights of any person(s).

I agree to the terms of use.