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Govt urged to set up Genetic Engineering Regulatory Committee
Karachi, Jun 09, 2009 (Asia Pulse Data Source via COMTEX) --
The agriculture experts have suggested the government to have a Genetic Engineering Regulatory Committee (GERC), in order to regulate genetically engineered crops and import of food. Only the regulatory agency should allow genetically modified (GM) food and issue certificate to the import food items such, as Doritos corn chips had already made its entry into Pakistan, said Dr Khalid Mahmood.
Doritos, a processed food product that had, not so long ago, been proven to contain GM corn, Dr Khalid said adding that it is extremely dangerous that there is no such body exists in the country to check and examine the entry of GM seeds, food, etc to determine the nature of the product.
He said there is no proper check on the origin of a number of food items and seeds imported from abroad, and the experts would be shocked to know that they are made of genetically engineered commodities, if proper investigation is made. The scientific results of laboratory tests credibly done by an independent laboratory (GeneScan laboratories, Germany) on Doritos chips packets and the tested samples were found to contain GM corn varieties, MON 863 and NK 603.
The farmers and growers along with prominent NGOs such Greenpeace are carrying out a campaign against GM seeds and crops in several countries, particularly in China and India. Dr Khalid said that safe food activists feel that the country is getting big quantities of GM food dumps, as Pakistan has no system of screening for GM food at the ports. There is also a lack of awareness among the port authorities, the Customs and Excise Board and the Directorate of Foreign Trade on GM food and Living Modified Organisms (LMO) and the laws that are associated to it.
This calls for an entire system that needs to be activated to use the provisions of the Cartagena Protocol for bio-safety that Pakistan ratified and is in force since 2005, to demand information from the countries of import. According to a research report prepared by Prof. Ronnie Cummins of Minnesota and Arpad Pusztai, Ph.D., in Chemistry in Budapest, Hungary and Ph.D.in Biochemistry at the University of London in England GM modified crops and food are declared dangerous to human and animal health.
According to their research, the information is scarce about health hazards, such as toxicity in genetically modified (GM) crops/foods. These foods may cause bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics. Some rats died within a few weeks after eating GM tomatoes. Rats ability to digest was decreased after eating GM corn. Allergen content increased when soybeans were genetically modified. The toxin level of GM cotton is unpredictable. Rats had meagre weight gain when fed GM soybeans.
Toxins were found in mice after eating GM potatoes, when the health risks of GM potatoes were revealed in some studies, a debate ensued. Allergies are a major concern with GM food, especially if ingredients are not labelled in packaged food. There are no reliable ways to test GM foods for allergies, reports say. We need more and better testing methods before making GM foods available for human consumption in our country and in case, government is unable to carry out tests, the GM foods should be strictly banned in Pakistan, Dr Khalid suggested.
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