Press Releases

Dr. Suman Sahai

Gene Campaign
Phone:+91 11 29556248    Email: genecamp@vsnl.com
19 November 2007

 

 US FORCES CHANGES IN INDIA’S GM POLICY: GOVERNMENT REMOVES REGULATORY OVERSIGHT ON IMPORT OF GM FOODS. 

 

Gene Campaign’s writ petition against the deregulation of import of genetically modified foods came up for hearing before the Supreme Court today. The Bench comprising of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice R.V. Raveendran and Justice J.M. Panchal heard the matter and issued notice on the main application as well as on the application for stay. Sri Sanjay Parikh, Counsel for Gene Campaign said that the notification on 23 August, 2007 issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests granting exemption to Genetically Modified Foods and allowing their unrestricted entry into the country, is in violation of the Environment Protection Act as well as the right to health under Article 21.

 

 

Gene Campaign has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court challenging the notification issued by the Government of India (Ministry of Environment and Forests) on 23 August, 2007, which came into effect on 11 September, 2007, withdrawing all existing regulatory oversight over the import of GE foods. This development allows the import of GE foods without the importing agencies having to take any permission from regulatory agencies, as has been the case so far, or even to inform them. 

 

Gene Campaign has prayed to the Court to strike down the notification since it is “unconstitutional, being violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution; Gene Campaign has further prayed to the Court to strike down the new provisions since these give uncanalised power to the government which is likely to be abused and is therefore violative of Article 14 of the Constitution, Sri Sanjay Parikh, Counsel for the petitioners said.

 

So far, in view of the known health risks that are associated with GE foods, the government guidelines have required that import of GE foods can only take place with the express permission of the apex regulatory body in India, the GEAC ( Genetic Engineering Approval Committee) and these must be labeled.

 

Dr Suman Sahai , Convener of Gene Campaign said that the regulatory oversight  we had, was necessary and appropriate since it had allowed India to monitor the entry of food products produced by a new technology that is known to produce toxic and allergic compounds. The Indian regulations which made it necessary for permission to be taken from national agencies, allowed them to monitor the entry of GM products into the country. These regulations had also allowed India to maintain vigil that food products rejected by other countries in Europe, Africa and Middle East are not in fact being dumped on us.

 

The arbitrary withdrawal of the regulatory oversight without any scientific reason and without any consultation with a range of stakeholders that are engaged with GE technology and policies associated with it, is inexplicable. 

 

Very specially at a time when scientific evidence is growing from laboratory tests that genetically engineered foods can in fact cause serious damage to health, we need to upgrade our food testing systems and make them more stringent and comprehensive, not dismantle them, as the government is doing.  It is incomprehensible that instead of strengthening our systems, the government has decided to withdraw all opportunities to test and regulate such novel and controversial foods.

 

Gene Campaign said it would be dangerous to allow unfettered access to unknown foodstuffs, more so when the country does not even have a liability law to fix responsibility and claim compensation in the event that something should go wrong and people suffer health damage from the consumption of such GE foods. 

 

The new notification will in effect provide unrestricted entry to untested foods of dubious origins, specially since the imported GM food does not have to be labeled. This denies consumers their right to exercise free choice in the matter of the food they wish to eat. This regrettable move is therefore in violation of the Consumer Protection Act of India which grants consumers the right of informed choice.

 

The government’s new move goes against India’s long standing commitment to mandatory labeling of GE foods, a position the Indian delegation has consistently maintained in international negotiations, particularly at the WHO-FAO led Codex Committee on Food Labeling. Dr Sahai said these developments, both the dilution of India’s position on mandatory labeling and the curious deregulation of the GM food sector, appear to be the result of the increasing American pressure on Indian policy making to deregulate the sector on GM crops and foods, especially after the coming into force of the Indo –US deal on Agriculture.