FSSAI catering to corporates at cost of citizens' interest: Activists

The Coalition of GM-Free India has written to the FSSAI seeking the intervention of the authority to stop the entry of any kind of GM food or organism, seeking stricter regulation and reiterating their opposition to GM food crops.

Sreedevi Lakshmikutty and Sridhar Radhakrishnan have prepared the suggestion on behalf of the Coalition, a collective of people and experts from across the country, made a detailed submission to the draft notification on Food Safety and Standards (Genetically Modified) Regulations 2022.

Among the significant suggestions made to the FSSAI are the regulation of genetically modified (GM) food. It sought insertion of a clause banning manufacturing, storage, distribution, sale or import of any food or food ingredient derived from GM organisms except with prior approval from the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) and then from the FSSAI.

It also sought regulation of animal feed as it affects the human food chain. "FSSAI in the past has not hesitated to issue regulations with regard to some aspects of animal feed, and there is no reason why GM feed should be left out of the current regulations," the Coalition said.

It suggested that the rules should provide for setting up a committee of independent biosafety experts devoid of any conflict of interest for appraisal of applications and to assess long-term biosafety. "The regulations should have to specify which body in FSSAI would be taking decisions on the applications received. This is why a GM foods and Feed Safety Appraisal Committee would have to be set up in FSSAI," it said.

The Coalition also sought inclusion of a definition of precautionary principles that incorporates the guidance provided by the Cartagena Protocal on Biosafety, to which India is a signatory. The protocol advises countries to take decisions to avoid or minimise potential adverse effects in cases where the scientific certainty is lacking.
Further, it sought a detailed addition to clause 4(4) in the draft rules which specifies scrutiny of documents of a proposed GM organism. "The regulation specifies examination of GM food for human consumption bu thow this is to be done is not mentioned," it noted, seeking guidelines for a comprehensive and rigorous tests that are independent, long term and multi-generational.

The Coalition also questioned the FSSAI for ignoring the suggestions they made to the earlier version of the draft regulation even as the demands of the industries were accommodated. "We are disappointed to find that not a single input from the comprehensive response of ours with hundreds of endorsements to the 2021 version of regulation (dated 14th January 2022) has found a corresponding change or modification in FSSAI’s draft on GM food Regulation. At the same time, we note that numerous industry inputs have made it to FSSAI’s updated draft regulations whether it be on removing processed food, excluding processing aid, or excluding couple of categories of genome editing from the scope," it said.