Protocol for safety tests and impact monitoring inadequate: Gene Campaign 

GEAC directed to consider toxicity of GM food items

Cultivating GE rice is a ‘high risk’ area

Thiruvananthapuram: The interim order issued by the Supreme Court on Tuesday directing the government to publicise the results of trials on the safety of genetically modified (GM) food items represents a breakthrough in the campaign for biosafety regulations in India, Suman Sahai, convener of Gene Campaign, said here on Friday.

Talking to The Hindu, Ms. Sahai who is in the city to attend a two-day workshop organised by the Kerala State Biodiversity Board, said the order would be a boost for efforts to establish a better regulatory mechanism for GM products in the country.

A Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan issued the interim order based on a public interest litigation filed by Gene Campaign, a Delhi-based research and advocacy organisation.

The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) has been directed to consider the toxicity and allerginicity of GM food items. The order asked the government to post the relevant material on the web so that independent experts could examine them.

Contamination hazard

The committee has also been asked to study the isolation distance of experimental fields from neighbouring fields to prevent contamination.

In its petition, the Gene Campaign had alleged that the unregulated release of GM grains and vegetables in the Indian environment was fraught with danger to public health and environment. It sought to prevent the release of GM foods without safety verification by an independent agency.

Persistent demand

 “At a time when almost every other country, including the U.S., is revising regulations on GM products, the Government of India has not responded to persistent demand for an overhaul of the regulatory mechanism. The existing protocol for safety tests and impact monitoring in India is extremely inadequate despite growing scientific evidence of the impact of GM foods on public health,” Ms. Sahai said.

“It is a pity that a country like India that is home to the biggest staple food in the world is fooling around with genetically engineered (GE) rice. Cultivating GE rice is a ‘high risk’ area for India, a major centre of origin and diversity for rice.”

Ban in Mexico

She said Mexico had imposed a ban on not just the cultivation of GE corn, but also research in GE corn.

“Too little is understood about what happens when foreign genes are abruptly pushed into the genetic material of living organisms like plants. The results are intrinsically unpredictable and there exists the potential for damage across generations. India must not cultivate GE rice until a solid body of research is done to understand the implications.”

Like atomic energy

Likening GM technology to atomic energy, Ms. Sahai who has a Ph.D. in genetics and several years of teaching experience in Indian and foreign universities, said, “The crisis is that we will never be able to guarantee total safety. I cannot see a day when we can remove precautions on GE research.”

She said transparency and facilities for data scrutiny would have to be part of the regulatory mechanism.

Sovereignty at stake

Ms. Sahai termed GE a solution in search of a problem. “The only ones to benefit from it are a few multinational corporations. At stake is the food security and food sovereignty of nations. It is a shame that a country like India has to waste so much effort in dealing with the problems caused by this technology.”

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