GM foods: The choice is yours!

Sri Lanka is ready to evaluate and label GM foods that are coming into the market. Are we informing or placing an extra burden on the consumer?

By Salma Yusuf

If you have recently sprinkled Soya sauce liberally over your food at a Chinese restaurant, munched popcorn in a cinema, or indulged in a candy bar – you’ve most probably ingested this new type of food.

When doing your weekly marketing, just how many of these ‘different’ kind of foods do you think may have found their way into your shopping cart? You may know exactly how much salt, fat and carbohydrates each of these contain, but what you would not know is whether the bulk of these foods have been genetically altered!

Genetic Modification is a special set of technologies that alter the genetic makeup of animals, plants, or bacteria.

Today, five years after an initial decision was made to enact a ban on Genetically Modified food products in Sri Lanka and then withdrawn, a Regulation has finally been agreed upon by the government under the Food Act No. 26 of 1980, to evaluate and label GM foods and will be published next week, officials from the Ministry of Health Care and Nutrition told The Sunday Times.

Assistant Director, Food Control Administration, Ministry of Health Care and Nutrition, S. Nagiah, explaining the new regulation said, “The Regulation lays down a two-step process, the first step of which is an evaluation of reviewed scientific data, which includes information from the producer of the product and from the regulatory scientific authority of the sending state. If the GM product passes this test, then it will be subject to mandatory labelling.”

“Initially we are likely to experience some teething problems, one of which will be countered by effecting a field surveillance system, which will monitor GM products that are already in the market,” he added.

What, then, does the labelling mean to all of us? “The label does not symbolise an absolute declaration of safety. The label mainly serves the purpose of being an indicator of the source of the product. It is up to the consumer to make a decision,” Mr. Nagiah said.

The Environment Foundation Limited, however, maintains that the outright ban has been what they always wanted. “Labelling is the only option otherwise. However, we have been requesting that all food items said to contain Genetically Modified organisms be taken off/kept off the shelves until tests have proven that they are safe for consumption,” says Venuri de Silva, Information Officer of the EFL. “Giving the consumer the choice places a huge onus on the consumer,” she adds.

The EFL also strongly recommends that with the introduction of this new scheme, a large-scale programme for educating the public should also be introduced.

Jagath Gunawardana, attached to the Society for Environmental Education, Attorney-at-Law and specialist on Environmental Law was positive about the government’s move. “I welcome this two-step approach. It is following from the European Union Model on GM foods and like the outright ban it is based on the precautionary principle.”

He, however, feels that this two-step approach is superior to the outright ban, since it is difficult to impose the latter for two reasons – a constant watch has to be kept for any GM foods coming into the market, and also because if a GM food which is not on the list of banned foods does come into the market, the authorities will not be able to take action.

Gunawardana believes, after careful study and analysis, that the EU model is the most scientifically acceptable one. For him, the label to the public should mean only a choice between two safe products. “Thus if the government is not certain, they should refrain from approving it,” he says.

The original ban in 2001 was short-lived, because of international pressure, mainly by the World Trade Organisation who alleged that since Sri Lanka was a signatory to the WTO Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement, the regulation had to be rectified to ensure compatibility with the Agreement.

Gunawardana believes that this two-step approach by the government will satisfy both needs, that of complying with the WTO Agreement and ensuring the safety of the public.

Once the food item passes these formalities and is labelled, it will have a label which reads ‘Genetically Modified’ followed by the name of the particular food. The decision whether to buy the GM food or not is then up to the buyer. In order for the public to make an informed decision, they should be educated on the benefits and disadvantages of GMOs.