Hyderabad, February 4
As the deadline for submitting feedback on draft guidelines on GM food ends on February 5, a group of doctors oppose the move to allow GM (genetically modified) foods. They have asked the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to ensure that no GM foods are sold in the country.
“No GM foods have been permitted to be imported into, or sold in India. This de jure regulatory reality should be implemented, with penal action taken against anyone selling GM foods,” Arun Gupta, a paediatrician and public health expert, has said.
As many as 162 doctors from different States have signed the feedback letter sent to the FSSAI. A copy of which was sent to Mansukh Mandaviya, the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare. “The regulatory tools and mechanisms (of sampling, inspection and testing) must ensure that no GM foods are sold in India,” they said.
Asking the authority to withdraw the proposed regulations, they urged to ensure that the regulatory regime is mainly to keep GM foods out of the diet. They alleged that the proposed regulations didn’t provide scope for independent, long-term, comprehensive, multi-generational biosafety assessment.
“They seem to be ready to accept regulatory approvals for GM foods elsewhere and allow the same in India too. Such an approach obviously puts a question mark on the very purpose of notifying any regulations,” they contended. “There is a body of scientific evidence to show the health risks that GM foods present,” they said.
By paving the way, FSSAI would also be allowing unhealthy ultra processed foods to flood the country’s food chain. They alleged that the FSSAI did not take stringent and deterrent action against sale of GM foods. “Now, it is seeking to formally pave the way for easier entry of all kinds of GM foods,” they said in the communication.