Source: Daily India via The Meridian Institute's Food Security and Ag-Biotech News

Supreme Court Says No to GM Products till Further Orders

India's Supreme Court today ordered the country's Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) to stop all approvals of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) until further notice.

The decision came after a petition by journalist Devinder Sharma, Aruna Rodrigues of Sunray Harvesters Consultancy, India, and two others, asking for a stay on new GMO approvals and all field trials of genetically modified (GM) crops.

In its decision, the Indian Supreme Court stated: "We are not inclined to direct stoppage of all field trials at this stage without [knowing] the stand of the respondents. At the same time we deem it appropriate to direct GEAC to withhold the approvals [on new GMOs] till further directions are issued on hearing all concerned."

[According to the plaintiffs' petition, which was filed last year, there is "a significant degree of opaqueness" about what GMOs are and their "implications for use, in terms of the food we eat, our health choices, farmers' rights, and our environment."

It says: "Instead of protecting the national interests, the regulatory authorities comprising the Department of Biotechnology and the GEAC of the government are brazenly subverting the democratic process and are determined to promote GE [genetic engineering] technology and the commercial interest of the biotech industry."

The petition is available online at http://www.grain.org/h/?id=71.]

The article can be viewed online at
http://www.dailyindia.com/show/62507.php/Supreme_Court_says_no_to_GM_products_till_further_orders

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