Greenpeace volunteers unfold a banner in front of the Health Ministry to draw attention of Dr Ramadoss, the Health Minister to the influx of illegal GM food in to the country.
The apex body for the regulation of such food products, the
Genetic
Engineering Approval Committee's (GEAC) has been deferring a
decision
on the matter for want of trivial details.[1] the representative
of
the health ministry, was not present in this meeting despite
being
informed about the issue. ."There is no doubt that presence of
such
illegal, genetically modified food products is a threat to
public
health and safety. It's been confirmed that Doritos contains
MON863
[2] variety of corn which had caused liver and kidney toxicity
on
rats. Our health minister is known to take strong positions on
the
long term health of the citizens and has been concerned about
junk
food. We wonder why is he quiet about such a serious issue?"
said
Rajesh Krishnan, Campaigner, Sustainable Agriculture,
Greenpeace
India.
India has a law prohibiting the sale of any genetically modified
food
products without the permission of Genetic Engineering
Approval
Committee [3]. Greenpeace had received RTI responses from the
Director
General of Health services, Director General of Foreign Trade
and
the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee, the three
agencies
involved in regulation of import of Genetically Modified food in
the
country, declaring that no permission has been granted for the
import
and sale of any Genetically modified Food in India other than
purified
Soya oil.
"Issues regarding the safety of GM products, promoted for
human
consumption, remain a cause for concern and many countries in
the
world (including the EU) continue to restrict GM from entering
their
country. It is surprising that while India has in place
regulatory
mechanisms designed to control and restrict the entry of GM
food
products, these regulations have been flouted blatantly in the
case of
Pepsico's Doritos corn chips," said Dr, Amit Sengupta of the
Jan
Swasthya Abhiyan.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority, which is not fully
functional
but supposed to take over the regulation of such processed
foods, is
an autonomous body under the health ministry. Last September,
the GEAC
has already notified the transfer of jurisdiction to this
authority
even before the authority had been functional. It was during
this
time, products like Doritos had entered the market without
any
regulatory control. The GEAC has now extended the time till
September
2008 for the FSSA to become functional. "It is also a well known
fact
that there are no laboratories notified or testing protocols
issued by
the GEAC in its 19 years of service to the country to stop any
dumping
of GM food into the country," added Rajesh [5]
The GEAC in its 86th meeting on the 25th of this month is
expected to
discuss the details of this illegal GM food. It is hoped that
a
decision will be taken to confiscate and ban this processed
food from
the market.
Greenpeace is demanding that the Health Minister takes an
active
position on the issue of safety of GM foods and ensure that
these
products are confiscated from the market without any delay.
For further information, contact
Jayashree Nandi- Greenpeace India Communications, +91-9343868011,
Rajesh Krishnan, Campaigner, Sustainable Agriculture, Greenpeace, +91
9845650032, 
Notes to Editor
[1], GEAC has communicated to Greenpeace asking the amount of GM corn
present in the samples, while the independent lab based in Germany had
confirmed the presence of corn and soya contaminants at an accuracy of
0.01%.
[2] The study on Mon 863 was published in the American journal,
Archives of Environmental contamination and toxicology dated May 2007,
and is available online
http://www.springerlink.com/content/02648wu132m07804/?p=d84fa910926d4c7492a585a386b28812&pi=18
[3] Under the Rules for the Manufacture, Use, Import, Export and
Storage of Hazardous Micro Organisms Genetically Engineered Organisms
or Cells (1989), Rule 7 (1) states "No person shall import, export,
transport, manufacture, process, use or sell any hazardous micro
organisms, genetically engineered organisms/substances or cells except
with the approval of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee." Rule
11 states: "Foodstuff, ingredients in food stuffs and additives
including processing and containing or consisting of genetically
engineered organisms or cells, shall not be produced, sold, imported
or used except with the approval of the Genetic Engineering Approval
Committee."
[5]. Information from customs officials had confirmed that they are
unable to track GM foods because there is no testing protocols or
notified labs provided by the authority.