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A recent report by Greenpeace slams the Indian government’s lax bio-safety guidelines and secretive testing procedures on genetically modified foods and urges Indian consumers to be more proactive
Greenpeace’s report on GM food proliferation in India, titled ‘Genetic Gamble: Safe food -- the end of choice?’ that was released on October 14, 2008, comes down heavily on the Indian government’s liberal policy on genetic modifications to food in spite of evidence of the health hazards involved. According to the report, GE food research in India has increased almost 250% since 2005. After brinjal, which is in the last stage of approval although its safety has not been independently verified, there are 25 kinds of rice varieties, 23 kinds of tomato, and many kinds of groundnut, pigeon pea, potato, mustard, sugarcane, cowpea and soy waiting in line for approval. Even trees and traditional ayurvedic medicinal herbs are being subject to genetic engineering. Yet, the report says, ‘not a single study in the public domain has established the safety of these crops, either with respect to human health or the environment’. The report is extremely critical of the fact that GM foods are being approved without any independent verification of their safety; that farmers are not being given a choice; and that there is no provision to allow consumers to know whether the food they are consuming is genetically modified or not. Inadequately tested GM food is dangerous for consumers’ health, for agriculture and the environment, the report says. ‘GM foods are being promoted by industry and its supporters as the panacea to the world’s food problems. That there is no justification for most or all of these claims is now a matter of fact,’ the report states. While international regulatory systems on bio-foods are getting increasingly aware of the safety of GM foods, the Indian regulatory system does not take these seriously. The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) ‘has a history of non-regulation contamination and deregulation even before Bt cotton was approved in 2002. There is extensive documentation on the contamination mishaps that have happened during field trials of various GM food crops,’ the report claims, and reveals that, according to the existing guidelines, complete bio-safety assessments are not required to be done before field testing, but are often done simultaneously, to cut costs. Moreover, the results of the tests are kept secret. The report appeals to Indian citizens to become involved in the debate and exercise their right to choose. Greenpeace has initiated the ‘I Am No Lab Rat’ campaign against GM crops, that urges consumers to ask a significant question: Are we ready to be subjected to GM food crops without knowing their side effects? Source: Greenpeace report at: http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/
content/india/press/reports/genetic-gamble-safe-food-the.pdf, October 2008
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