In an interim order on
a public interest petition filed by environment NGO Gene Campaign in
2004, the Supreme Court today directed the genetic engineering approval
committee (GEAC) to consider the toxicity and allerginicity of the
genetically modified (GM) food items.
It has also asked the government to post the relevant material on the
website so that independent experts could examine them.
The committee has also been asked to study the isolation distance of
the experimental field from human habitation and the level of detection
(LoD) ratio. At present, the isolation distance is fixed at 200 metres
for rice. The committee has been asked to examine the objections in
this field.
Regarding the LoD, the ratio is 0.01 per cent which roughly means one
toxic grain in 10,000.
This is also debatable, according to the petitioner, Gene Campaign,
which moved the public interest petition before the Bench headed by
Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan. The court asked the committee to
examine these parameters also.
According to the petitioner, several private companies with foreign
collaboration are developing GM food grain and vegetables in the
country.
Alleging that the Centre is not regulating their activities, the NGO
said unregulated release of GM grains and vegetables in the Indian
environment will be harmful. It sought to prevent the release of GM
foods without safety verification done by an independent agency.
After several hearings in the last three years, the Supreme Court had
in 2007 set up a committee consisting of scientists, PM Bhargava and MS
Swaminathan, as independent members and government scientists to study
the impact and clear the GM foods. This committee is yet to submit its
final report.
Meanwhile, GM food companies have insisted they have
internationally-recognised safety standards, and there is no need for
additional guidelines.
However, according to the petitioner, the German Supreme Court had
verified one company’s safety claim on GM foods and found it to be
false.
This was followed by European countries banning most of the GM foods.
The petitioners emphasised that the Indian Supreme Court should
similarly verify the claims of MNCs instead of accepting their claims.
Though the Centre claimed that all relevant information was available
on the website, Gene Campaign protested that only data about GM cotton
and brinjal were available.
The government stated the companies which experimented with the
modified foods could not be asked to disclose their process and other
confidential data. The association of manufacturers protested against
the demand for disclosure of data protected by the Right to Information
(RTI) Act and patent law.
Gene Campaign counsel Prashant Bhushan complained that the committee
has not yet disclosed the minutes of its last meeting and the
guidelines it has laid down for gene research. The court asked the
government to post the details on the website.
According to legal experts, today’s Supreme Court order will have an
impact on a pending appeal on a similar issue in the Delhi High Court.
The appeal was filed by Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company, seed partner
of Monsanto of the US, against a Central Information Commission order,
which directed the government to release the data received from Mahyco
for regulatory clearance purposes.
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