Mechanism to regularise GM food marketing

BY ANJANA Samarasinghe

THE appropriate bio safety measures and risk assessments must be in place prior to commercial release of Genetically Modified (GM) foods, said Committee Member GM food interest Group of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Delano Dias at a briefing on regularise for the control of import, sale and labelling of GM foods recently.

The Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry will regularise the import, sale and labelling of GM foods shortly.

The Chamber together with Food Advisory Committee (FAC) of the Health Department organised this briefing for the business community on the regulation of importing, selling and labelling of GM foods.

The global market has accepted GM food technology and the market for it will grow further as new traits such as drought tolerance, salt tolerance of crops and plants with high oil contain become commercially vailable, Dias said.

We need to regulate bio technology, biotech food in scientific and commercial use within Sri Lanka. Laws should be workable, clear and easy to be implemented by all stakeholders, he said.

The major GM crops are engineered for resistance to herbicides or to resistance to insects pests. "The rapid development of this technology is due to its economic environmental benefits, driven in part by the dramatically lowered requirement for chemical pesticides, he said.

Nearly eight million farmers now plant GM crops in 17 countries. Around 81 million hectares were planted around the world last year. The global value of GM crop production in 2003 was $44 billion.

At present there is no commercial production of bio-technology crops in Sri Lanka. Some food imports may be bio-engineered but no mechanism exists to measure it or track distribution.

Dias also said new regulations should be more user friendly with simply documentation and reasonable testing charges.

There should be efficient implementation ensuring no delay or trade blockage. Consumers have asked for this kind of regulation, said Director Environmental and Occupational Health, Ministry of Healthcare Dr. C. K Shanmugarajah.

We have Considered consumers' rights and international trade commitments. Under the new regulations import, transport, distribution and sale of GM food should do with the CFA approval, he said.

Companies who wish to obtain the approval, are required to submit an application to CFA with relevant information.

These applications will then be forwarded to the Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) for assessment. The CFA who will levy a fee for processing and assessments from the applicant places TEC's recommendation before the Food Advisory Committee and will inform the same to the applicant.

When approval is granted, the applicant will be able to provide the product to the market with the label that depicts "Genetically Modified". Foods which contain less than 1 per cent GM organism are exempted from these provisions.