Nanotechnology in food : Is it safe ?

Suman Sahai

Nanoparticles used in a variety of sectors are also being used in the processing and packaging of foods. According to a study done by Friends of the Earth, foods which contain nanoscale ingredients and additives are already found on supermarket shelves in Europe and the US. Given the increasing scientific evidence demonstrating the toxicity risks of nanomaterials, this is cause for serious concern.

Firms in Germany producing processed meats like ham and sausage are using already a nanotechnology-based carrier system using 30nm (1 nanometer = 0.0000001 cm) to encapsulate ingredients such as Vitamins C and E and fatty acids, which can be used as preservatives and processing aids. This nano system is reported to increase the potency and bioavailability of the active ingredients enabling faster processing, better colour of the product and the use of cheaper ingredients without compromising on taste. Nestlé and Unilever are said to be developing a nano-emulsion based ice cream which has a rich creamy texture and flavour but is actually low fat. Low fat ice creams otherwise do not taste as good as those made from full fat milk and cream.

Nanoparticles are now being added to many foods to improve flow properties, for example, how well thick liquids pour, colour and stability during processing, or to increase shelf life. For instance, aluminum-silicates are commonly used to prevent clumping in granular or powdered processed foods, and a form of titanium dioxide is routinely used as a food whitener in confectionery, cheeses and sauces to brighten up their colour.

Bread, breakfast cereals, beverages and dairy products like yoghurt drinks, ice cream and cheese are being fortified with vitamins, minerals such as iron, magnesium or zinc, bioactive peptides, and antioxidants. Some of these active ingredients are now being added to foods either as nanoparticles or in nanocapsules to slow their release and make them available for the life of the product.

Nanocapsules in food are used to carry bioactive ingredients like vitamins, isoflavones ( compounds similar to estrogens) , carotenoids, (precursors of vitamin A), essential oils, preservatives and food colouring substances. These are to improve the taste, appearance and nutritional properties of the food. BASF has produced a Vitamin E nano-solution, especially formulated for drinks like sports beverages and flavored waters which are now very popular among the youth.

Nano-sizing or nano-encapsulating active ingredients in nutraceuticals delivers greater bioavailability, improved solubility and increased potency compared to when these substances are simply added in powdered or even micro form. Nutraceuticals are new age compounds that aim to provide nutrition and health benefits. (Nutraceuticals: nutra= nutrition + ceuticals from pharmaceuticals).

The greater potency of nanoparticle additives reduces the quantities of additives required, and so benefit food processors by cutting cost. However the high potential for cellular uptake of nanomaterials, coupled with their greater chemical reactivity, could also introduce new health risks.

Apart from nanomaterials being added to food and food packaging, nanoparticles are also created during food processing. Nanoparticles are found in many foods not because they have been added to enhance taste and appearance but because of the technology used to process the foods. Food processing technologies that produce nanoparticles are not new but the rapidly expanding consumption of highly processed foods is increasing the volume of nanoparticles in human diets, resulting in higher exposure to these particles and raising health risks.

Processing techniques which produce nanoparticles are used in the manufacture of ready to eat foods like salad dressings, chocolate syrups, sweeteners and flavoured oils. Nanoparticles and nanoscale emulsions can be formed as a result of food processing techniques like high pressure homogenisation, dry ball milling, dry jet milling and ultrasound emulsification. It is likely that many food manufacturers particularly in developing countries are unaware that their foods contain nanoparticles. They may have simply licensed a processing technology without being aware of its details and safety implications. Food manufacturers like such processing techniques because the textural changes and flow properties they produce add commercial interest to their products.

In addition to the accidental presence of nanoparticles resulting from processing techniques, they can also enter food as contaminants. Researches have found that many food products contain insoluble, inorganic nanoparticles and microparticles which appear to have contaminated foods unintentionally, for

example as a result of the wear and tear of food processing machines or through environmental pollution.

Before its use in food, nanotechnology has been used in food packaging and food contact materials to extend the shelf-life of packaged foods. One of the earliest commercial applications of nanotechnology in the food sector is in

packaging. It is estimated that between 400 and 500 nano packaging products are in commercial use now, and the projection is that by 2020, nanotechnology will be used in a quarter of all food packaging world wide.

The main purpose of nano material in packaging is to increase the shelf life of packed foods by reducing the rate of deterioration. This is done by using packaging materials that will reduce gas and moisture exchange with the atmosphere and minimize UV light damage. For example, DuPont has produced a nano titanium dioxide plastic additive which can reduce UV damage in foods in transparent packaging. Nano packaging can also be designed to release antimicrobials, antioxidants, enzymes, flavours and nutraceuticals to keep the packaged food tasting ‘fresh’ for a longer period.

Certain kinds of nano packaging materials are made so as to interact with the food to monitor its deterioration. Nano packaging using carbon nanotubes is being developed with the ability to ‘pump’ out oxygen and carbon dioxide that would cause food and beverages to deteriorate as well as undesirable odours that make the food unappealing.

Nano-based antimicrobial packaging

Food packaging and containers are also made incorporating antimicrobial nanomaterials, to prevent or slow down the decay of food due to microbial action. These products commonly use nanoparticles of silver but also nano zinc oxide and nano chlorine dioxide. Packaging materials using magnesium oxide, copper oxide and titanium dioxide in nano form as well as carbon nanotubes are also being developed for use in antimicrobial food packaging.

Nanoscale packaging and containers with antibacterial function
Company/ Institution	Application
SongSing Nano Technology Co., Ltd	Cling wrap treated with nano zinc oxide
Sharper Image	Plastic storage bags treated with nano silver
BlueMoonGoods, A-DO Global, Quan Zhou Hu Zheng Nano Technology Co., Ltd and Sharper Image	Storage containers treated with nano silver
Daewoo, Samsung and LG	Refrigerators treated with nano silver
Baby Dream® Co., Ltd	Baby cup treated with nano silver
A-DO Global	Chopping board treated with nano silver
SongSing Nano Technology Co	Tea pot treated with nano silver
Nano Care Technology Ltd	Kitchenware treated with nano silver

Source: - Friends of the Earth, 2008

Safety

Developing countries have begun to use nanotechnology in the absence of health and safety guidelines. India along with other Asian countries like China, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam is moving ahead to commercialise nanotechnology but there is as yet no public debate on its impacts, nor a regulatory regime.

In India the government is spending over US$6 million each year on nanotechnology research but regulatory oversight remains weak. Firms are getting ready to put out water filters using nanomaterials for better absorption of contaminants but reportedly, the companies have not performed any toxicology tests because they are not required to do so.

There are outstanding concerns about what happens to nanoparticles once they are inside the body ; do they remain embedded or move freely ? they are known to be highly interactive so what are the immune or inflammatory responses they elicit ? The behavior of a nanoparticle varies according to size, shape, surface area and chemistry with the compounds it interacts with. Exhaustive safety studies are needed before nanotechnology is permitted to be used in the food and beverage sector.

THE BT BRINJAL CASE: OVERHAULING THE REGULATORY SYSTEM MUST BE THE FIRST STEP

Suman Sahai
The Minister for Environment and Forests, Sri Jairam Ramesh deserves congratulations for the effort he is making to hear the public’s views on Bt brinjal. The range of public concerns that are being expressed by diverse stakeholders in different parts of the country will help form the Minister’s opinion about GM crops and the regulatory system in general.

According to the legal framework on GMOs, the 1989 Rules for the Manufacture, Use, Import, Export and Storage of Hazardous Micro organisms, Genetically Modified Organisms and Cells, (and subsequent amendments), the statutory authority to take decisions on the release of GMOs, rests with the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) which is India’s apex decision making body.

In the case of Bt brinjal however, the GEAC has taken the unorthodox step of referring the matter to the government for a final decision. After declaring itself satisfied with the bio safety data on Bt brinjal and giving it clearance in principle, the GEAC has passed the ball into the government’s court. This appears to have been done because the GEAC recognizes that there is opposition to GM crops as well as a trenchant criticism of the manner in which the GEAC itself and the rest of the regulatory system conducts itself, its lack of transparency and its refusal to engage with the public’s concerns.

Gene Campaign had filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court in 2004, asking for an improved regulatory system incorporating among other things, technical competence, transparency and the involvement of the public in decision making. The case is dragging through the Supreme Court in its sixth year with no signs of any resolution. In the meantime GEAC has preempted everything and given clearance for the cultivation of Bt brinjal. It took this decision despite the fact that there is neither a labeling system in place, nor a law on liability in this country. If some harm were to come from the commercialization of Bt brinjal, either to farmers ( poor crops or contamination of organic crops) or to consumers who ate the vegetable, there is no law according to which the Mahyco seed company could be held responsible and made to pay compensation and recall the offending brinjal from the fields, mandis, retail shops and vendors.

In the absence of a liability law, the Mahyco company would go scot free even if its product were to inflict damage. In the absence of a labeling law , (India’s official position is for mandatory labeling), the consumers would have no way of telling whether they were eating Bt brinjal or not. The freedom of choice guaranteed by the Consumer Protection Act of India has been taken away by the GEAC with its decision to allow Bt brinjal to be commercialized before a system of labeling has been put in place.

The GEAC’s actions, taking a decision in favor of the Mahyco company, at the same time passing the buck to the government to face the public’s opprobrium, reeks not just of cowardice but also manipulation. Quite apart from this unseemly action, a statutory body cannot simply shirk its responsibilities and pass the onus onwards when it does not want to be the bad guy, yet, step in aggressively to take decisions when it thinks it can get away with it. For this reason alone, the GEAC should be disbanded and another structure set up reflecting new scientific developments in the field and principles of good governance.

However it happened, by getting involved, Sri Ramesh has taken the initiative and given himself the opportunity to do something really useful and important. He could do a great public service by forcing an overhaul of the legal framework governing GMOs in India. The Minister should set up a committee including scientists from different disciplines, legal and technical experts, as well as public interest groups. This can be anchored in the Law Ministry particularly since after an evaluation done by them some years ago, they had declared that the current Rules could not with stand a legal challenge.

The mandate of the review committee should be to improve the regulatory system on GMOs, modernize it according to the current stand of knowledge, plug the loopholes and tighten the system to make it inclusive, technically competent and transparent. This would lay the foundation of a system that would enable the development of safe and relevant technologies serving the public interest. A stringent, transparent regulatory system would not allow dubious, poorly tested products to be foisted on the public. Because of the weak and ambiguous nature of the Rules of 1989, agencies wanting the release of their products can avail of shortcuts and pliant regulators assist in this indefensible activity.

Questions of utility and safety will continue to arise till the legal framework and processes remain ad hoc and arbitrary. The following require the attention of the review committee:

1. Improve the overall technical competence of the GEAC. The head of GEAC must be a technically competent person, not whoever happens to be posted as Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Forests.


2. Divide GEAC into an advisory body of experts from diverse science and social science fields and a statutory body of technically trained people who will do biosafety testing along the lines recommended by the advisory body for each crop variety.


3. Commercial release of GM crops should be held back till a proper regulatory framework with appropriate systems is in place. Research should continue.


4. India must develop a new, stand alone Gene Technology legislation with like other countries have done. We have copied the American system of parking our regulation under the Environmental Protection Act although our situation is entirely different.


5. A thorough Needs Assessment must constitute the first step before starting research on GM crops. Is Bt brinjal really needed? Which problem in agriculture does the transgenic crop attempt to address ? Are there alternative approaches? Has conventional breeding failed to solve the problem? GM seeds require testing, are expensive and raise safety concerns. The GM approach must be justified , not undertaken just because the Bt gene is available for licensing.


6. If the Bt gene is to be used, its use must be selective, only where it will have a clear advantage over other approaches. Currently almost 40 % of Indian transgenic research is based on the Bt gene. Overuse of the Bt gene and the planting of Bt crops in all crop seasons will ensure faster build up of resistance in the pest and collapse of the Bt strategy of pest control.


7. Invest adequate resources in biosafety testing and monitoring at various stages. Public sector agencies complain they get research grants for research on transgenics but not for risk assessment.


8. Create structures to enable public participation in decision making on GMOs. Do this after a stakeholder dialogue to determine the levels and nature of public participation.


9. The regulatory system must have an unequivocal requirement for assessing the socioeconomic impact of a new transgenic crop on traditional agricultural systems, agro biodiversity and the traditional knowledge of communities. This is required by the Biosafety Protocol.


10. There must be an unambiguous definition of what will constitute ‘Confidential Business Information’. Barring this, all other biosafety data must be available for public scrutiny.


11. India must invoke the Precautionary Principle ( as other countries like China, Mexico and Peru have done) and not allow transgenic version of crops for which it is a Center of Origin, most importantly for rice but also other crops like brinjal.


12. Crops in which India has trading interests, like rice, specially basmati rice, soybean, tea, spices etc must not be genetically engineered since this will result in lost export markets.


13. The program to genetically engineer medicinal plants must be stopped. These will be unacceptable in the international market. It is highly likely that rearranging of the genetic material could result in changes in the constitution and profile of plant metabolites that confer the healing properties.


14. Unless the advantage of hybrid vigor can be clearly demonstrated, transgenic crops should be produced as true breeding varieties, not hybrids. This will enable farmers to save seed for planting the next crop and not being dependent on the company.


15. The Herbicide Tolerance trait must not be permitted in India . As a chemical approach to controlling weeds, it will displace agriculture labor, especially women, who earn wages from weeding and other farm activities. Application of herbicides will destroy the surrounding biodiversity which is used by the rural poor as supplementary food, fodder and medicinal plants. It will also make it impossible to practice mixed farming.


16. A clear protocol of mandatory biosafety tests must be prescribed crop wise for agencies producing transgenic crops, so that tests are comprehensive and standardized.


17. A transparent and independent biosafety testing facility must be established under the supervision of scientists in the public sector to verify the data submitted by agencies developing transgenics. The same facility should be available to consumers wanting to have foods tested to confirm the presence of GM ingredients.


18. A state of the art testing facility for food safety testing and a roster of tests that must be conducted, is urgently required. Our current food safety testing procedures are ad hoc and highly inadequate.


19. A system of post release monitoring must be in place before permitting commercial release of GMOs. This will allow the monitoring of long term impacts of the GMO on the environment , human and animal health.


20. Provisions must be made for labeling before any GM food is introduced in the market. This must be preceded by a public education exercise so that the label is not merely a colored sign on the package but offers the opportunity for informed choice to the consumer. Labeling to make any sense, will have to be preceded by a system for segregation, traceability and Identity Preservation of GM crops.


21. The country must enact a law on Liability and Redress before allowing commercial release of GM foods, to put in place provisions for compensation, damage control and recall of the offending GMO.


22. Before any approval is given to a transgenic crop, a risk –benefit analysis should be conducted with public participation.
    

Dr Suman Sahai has a Ph. D in genetics and has several years of research and teaching experience at the Universities of Alberta, Chicago and Heidelberg. She can be reached at mail@genecampaign.org and http://www.genecampaign.org/

GEAC is the decision maker on GMOs

Suman Sahai
The Indian Environment Minister , Sri Jairam Ramesh deserves congratulations for the efforts he is making to hear the public’s views on Bt brinjal. If nothing else, the range of public concerns relating to Bt brinjal will come to the fore and help form the Minister’s opinion about GM crops in general. However the fact of the matter is, that despite his good intentions, the Minister is not in a position to take any action in the matter of Bt brinjal. If he were to decide on the strength of evidence presented to him, that Bt brinjal were indeed undesirable, he would not have the power to act to stop its release. The reason is that in this case, the Minister of Environment and Forests has no locus standii. The statutory authority to take decisions on the release of GMOs, rests with the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) which is India’s apex decision making body.

In India, GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) are regulated under the Environment Protection Act 1986 . In addition the Indian biosafety regulatory framework comprises the 1989 Rules for the Manufacture, Use, Import, Export and Storage of Hazardous Micro organisms, genetically Modified Organisms and Cells" , followed by the 1990 "Recombinant DNA Safety Guidelines" (1990 DBT Guidelines) and the 1994 "Revised Guidelines for Safety in Biotechnology" (1994 DBT Guidelines) and the 1998 "Revised Guidelines for Research in Transgenic Plants and Guidelines for Toxicity and Allergenicity Evaluation of Transgenic Seeds, Plants and Plant Parts" (1998 DBT Guidelines). According to this legal framework, the statutory authority vested with the power to take decisions on GMOs, is the GEAC.

The Environment Minister could however make a signal contribution in the matter of GMOs after being informed by the exercise of public consultations. He should take steps to improve the regulatory system on GMOs, plug the loopholes and tighten the system to make it technically competent and transparent. This step alone would sort out half the problems. A stringent, transparent regulatory system would not allow dubious, poorly tested products to be foisted on the public. Because of the weak and ambiguous nature of the Rules of 1989 ( and subsequent amendments) , agencies wanting the release of their products can avail of shortcuts and pliant regulators assist in this indefensible activity.

Gene Campaign had filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court in 2004, asking for a National Biotechnology Policy and a vastly improved regulatory system incorporating among other things, technical competence, transparency and the involvement of the public in decision making. The case is dragging through the Supreme Court in its sixth year with no signs of any resolution. In the meantime GEAC has preempted everything and given permission for the cultivation of Bt brinjal. This has happened despite the fact that there is neither a labeling system in place, nor a law on liability in this country. If some harm were to come from the commercialization of Bt brinjal, either to farmers ( poor crops) or to consumers who ate the vegetable, there is no law according to which the Mahyco seed company could be held responsible and made to pay compensation . In the absence of a liability law, the Mahyco company would go scot free even if its product were to inflict damage. In the absence of a labeling law , India’s official position is for mandatory labeling, the consumers would have no way of telling whether they were eating Bt brinjal or not. The freedom of choice guaranteed by the Consumer Protection Act of India has been taken away by the GEAC with its decision to allow Bt brinjal to be commercialized before a system of labeling has been put in place.
The GEAC permission for the commercialization of Bt brinjal is highly questionable on these grounds alone.

By getting involved, Mr Jairam Ramesh has taken the initiative and given himself the opportunity to do something worthwhile. He could take the bull by the horns and do a great public service by forcing an overhaul of the legal framework governing GMOs in India. It is high time this was done. The regulatory framework stands on wobbly legal legs. An evaluation done by the Law Ministry a couple of years ago had suggested that the system would not stand scrutiny in a court of law. It is ad hoc and arbitrary and full of opportunities for misuse. Mr Ramesh could certainly get that sorted out.

Food corruption in India and China

Suman Sahai

The list of food scares in China just over the past one year includes drug-tainted fish, industrial dye in egg yolks to colour them red, pork tainted with a banned feed additive and melamine laced milk powder. The melamine scandal which is the most recent, involved the adulterating of infant formula with the industrial chemical melamine, which can cause kidney stones and kidney failure. Melamine, used in the manufacture of plastics, was mixed with milk powder to show higher protein levels on measurement, in order to get higher prices for the allegedly ‘rich’ milk.

The melamine milk powder was discovered just before the Beijing Olympics, but the Chinese government buried the story so as not to create a scandal ahead of the Olympics when China was showcasing its prowess to the world. But soon after, legal proceedings were instituted and just a few days ago, two people were executed for their involvement in the melamine scandal that killed six and sickened over 300,000 people, some critically. Most of those taken ill were babies and children. The two accused received the death penalty for producing and selling toxic food and for endangering public safety. Apart from them, 19 other people have been jailed in this connection.

In another instance a few months ago, China executed a former director of the food and drug agency for approving fake medicine in exchange for cash. During the tenure of the disgraced drug controller, the state food and drug administration had from 1997 to 2006, approved six untested drugs that turned out to be fake. It was also found that some drug-makers had used falsified documents to apply for approvals, with the knowledge of the drug controller, in order to by pass safety tests.

Compare this with the situation in India where it is common knowledge that milk is adulterated with urea and industrial chemicals and made into a lethal brew risking the health and safety of consumers ranging from children to convalescents and pregnant mothers. Spurious drugs are so prevalent that according to newspaper reports it is impossible to ascertain the authenticity of drugs, even life saving drugs, in smaller towns and cities.

Not just this, people die routinely after drinking adulterated alcohol, or go blind or are paralysed. Pictures of wailing women seated next to corpses, victims of ‘hooch tragedies’

are commonplace. Children are periodically taken ill with food poisoning after eating their mid day meal in school, supplied free by the government. Guests at temple feasts ,

weddings and religious ceremonies are regularly found to have been taken violently ill or poisoned because of some adulterant. The adulteration of food in India is on a scale that can only be described as epic.

This is despite the fact that we have a law on food safety which prescribes food standards and heavy penalties for violators. The Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006 spells out in great detail the standards and permissible and banned additives. But all this might as well exist in the ether for all the difference it makes to ensure the safety of food on the market. Contractors and suppliers of food are the worst culprits of breaking the law in ways which are criminal. Government agencies that place such orders are complicit but this malpractice is raging in the private sector as well. Nobody is ever punished.

When talk turns to corruption, there is a large section of the Indian middle class that switches off, saying it is tired of hearing this ‘corruption talk’. Every society is corrupt, so we need not flagellate ourselves. Wasn’t the Prime Minister of this European state charged with corruption, and did not the British MPs inflate their bills? The Chinese are as bad as us they claim, if not worse. This may all be true but the difference is that we in India do not punish our guilty, We condone corruption and let it happen repeatedly and in the case of food adulteration, we over look the fact that innocent lives are lost because of greedy people. The difference between us and them is that when the guilty in other countries pay a severe pricefor their crimes. In the case of China, corrupt people who harm others are executed. In India they wear gold rings on their fingers and go scot free.

Bt brinjal can awaken a sleeping poison

Suman Sahai
What, you may ask, is common between potatoes, tomatoes, brinjal, chilli, datura, tobacco and the deadly nightshade (belladonna)? They all belong to a plant family called Solanaceae. The Solanaceae family contains a number of important agricultural plants as well as many psychoactive and toxic plants. Solanaceae species are rich in complex chemicals called alkaloids and contain some of the most poisonous plants known to mankind. They produce alkaloids in their roots, leaves and flowers. These alkaloids can be hallucinogens, stimulants or outright toxic. For example, when potatoes are exposed to light, a chemical called solanin is produced which appears as a green tinge. Green potatoes can be toxic, damage an unborn foetus and cause abortions. Other plants of this family known for their toxic qualities are belladonna, datura and tobacco.

Farmers have been working for thousands of years to domesticate wild plants like those of the Solanaceae family, to make them safe for eating. Much of this exercise involved breeding out the toxins contained in the wild plants. Scientists too have used careful, selective breeding to "clean up" crop varieties which had good qualities but contained toxins. Now brinjal, a member of this family, has been genetically engineered (GE) to produce a toxin to protect itself against a particular pest. This seems to be a process working to reverse several thousand years of efforts to detoxify natural plants to make them fit for human consumption!

Genetic engineering in plants has not been mastered enough to rule out the creation of dangerous new products in the cells when genes are muddled during the insertion of new, usually foreign genes. Several cases are known when new proteins and toxins were produced in plants which were genetically engineered. For example, when genetically modified (GM) peas were being developed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia to protect peas from the pest pea weevil, it was found that newly-formed proteins in the GM peas repeatedly caused immunity problems and lung inflammation when fed to mice. The experiments had to be abandoned. In another case, when mice were fed the genetically engineered Flavr Savr tomato, seven out of 40 experimental animals died within 14 days and the others suffered stomach lesions.

Genetic engineering in plants of the Solanaceae family could be dangerous since disturbing their genetic material through the process of inserting new gene constructs containing a battery of genes - including the toxin producing Bt gene - may trigger off metabolic processes that have been lying dormant. There are apprehensions that not only could new toxins develop but that old toxins that were removed by selective breeding may reappear.

Disturbing the cell metabolism (by genetic engineering) of species that are naturally genetically hardwired to produce toxins, is likely to call up old plant toxins in these species.

Testing for food safety is key in genetically engineered plants; it becomes more so with the Solanaceae family. At present biotechnology companies rely on the concept of "substantial equivalence" to demonstrate the safety of genetically engineered foods. In this method, the overall chemical composition of the genetically engineered food is compared to an equivalent conventional food. If there is no significant difference between the two, the GE plant is considered to be safe.

The Mahyco seed company has also tested its Bt brinjal in the same way. However, substantial equivalence is a highly contested paradigm, favoured by the biotech industry but rejected by most countries. This is because there is no mechanism in such an approach to detect unexpected or unintended changes like new toxic compounds in the cell.

Apart from the critical safety issues, there are other questions that arise with the impending release of India's first genetically engineered food crop. There is no system in place for labelling these foods. Indeed, how can one in the Indian situation label a vegetable that will be sold from farmers' fields, laden into trucks and taken to wholesale mandis? How will the vegetables on the vendor's cart or the corner shop be labelled as GM? The Government of India recognises the need to label GE food, and its position in the meetings of the Codex Alimentarius has been consistently in favour of mandatory labelling.

Accordingly, the ministry of health has drafted rules under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act to include labelling of GE food and food ingredients. But there is as yet no mechanism in place to label GE food, nor have any awareness programmes been conducted to explain the nature of GE foods and the need for labelling them. For most consumers, especially rural consumers, GE foods are a black box and unless they are made aware of the nature of GE foods, labelling would be meaningless. Despite these big gaps in preparedness, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) has approved Mahyco's Bt brinjal for commercial production.

Does this mean that the consumer's right to informed choice about their food is about to be trashed? This right is enshrined in India's Consumer Protection Act and the GEAC approval will violate the provisions of this act. Further, labelling is not just about pasting a coloured sticker on a brinjal, it involves a rigorous process of segregation and identity preservation (IP) to keep Bt and non-Bt food segregated. IP is a complex and expensive process requiring separation of a GM food from non-GM food, starting from farmers' fields, all the way to vegetable shops. Without going through this process, labelling cannot be done. Or has the GEAC planned that all brinjals cultivated in this country henceforth will be genetically engineered?

And what about fixing liability for damage? There is no liability law in India. In the event of contamination of organic brinjal with Bt brinjal, what will be the process of recall? Who will be liable to the producers of organic brinjal? There are no provisions for monitoring the long-term impact of GE foods on the health of consumers. In case adverse health impacts are reported from eating Bt brinjal, who would be liable to pay compensation? How would the liability be fixed and what would be the quantum? In the absence of any kind of preparedness or safeguards, what would be the liability of the government for approving such food crops? And in the event of damage caused by Bt brinjal, will Mahyco be put in the dock?

Hunger and malnutrition worsen in Asia

Suman Sahai

Bangladesh

A recent survey conducted by the World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the Bangladesh Institute of Public Health Nutrition (IPHN), to assess the impact of rising food prices on the overall nutritional condition of the population revealed some alarming statistics. Two million children under

the age of five suffer from acute malnutrition. A quarter of these suffer from severe acute malnutrition. The survey also reported ‘wasting’ and ‘severe wasting’ - conditions which

require immediate medical attention. Wasting is caused by: ‘a recent and severe process that has led to substantial weight loss, usually associated with starvation and/or disease’.

The survey also found that 25 per cent of the total households were food insecure. Between 2005 and 2008, household income dropped by 12 per cent and expenditure on food rose by 10 per cent. As prices of everyday commodities, especially food and fuel, skyrocketed, an additional 7.5 million people joined the ranks of those who consume less than 2,100 calories, the minimum daily amount of food recommended by WFP, raising the total to 65 million – or 45 percent of the total population. The increasing financial pressure on the poor of the country has reduced the diversity and frequency of food intake drastically - the key reasons for malnutrition among children.

Almost half the children surveyed were diagnosed with stunted growth, 37.4 per cent of them were also underweight. The survey found malnutrition in Bangladesh to be the most

severe in south Asia, amounting to a ‘silent emergency’. Malnutrition is a direct cause of death among children, and a significant underlying cause of child mortality. It affects the development of the child, increases the risk of women dying during pregnancy/childbirth and contributes to neonatal mortality.

Malnutrition impacts the society at large, affecting cognitive performance, healthcare and social costs and productivity. Unless the current level of malnutrition is urgently addressed, Bangladesh is unlikely to achieve any Millennium Development Goals.

Pakistan

Malnutrition - combined with diarrhoea, pneumonia and tuberculosis - is the biggest cause of child mortality in Tharparkar district in Pakistan’s southern Sind province. Infant (children under twelve months) and child mortality (under 5 years) is much worse here than the national average, according to local officials. Infant mortality is 123 per 1,000 live births and the child mortality rate is 140 per 1,000, according to official records at the civil hospital. The figures in Tharparkar are worse than Pakistan’s overall infant mortality rate of 75 per 1,000 live births.

Malnutrition results in low immunity and resistance to infection. Twenty per cent of children at the district hospital have pneumonia, fifty percent have diarrhoea and TB while the rest have other malnutrition-related ailments. The average daily income of most patients at Mithi’s staterun hospital was less than Pakistani Rs150 (US$1.86) and there was little awareness about preventive health. The local doctors said that preventive health programmes were being run by the government and NGOs but people tended not to follow the whole course. So if one parent is infected, or anyone in the family is, the disease takes hold. This laid-back approach makes treatment more difficult.

Myanmar

Myanmar's northern state of Rakhine has had a history of abject poverty, but this year’s food crisis has made it worse. Of the state's nearly one million inhabitants, about 85 per cent are Rohingya, an ethnic, linguistic and religious minority deemed ‘stateless’ as per Myanmar laws. Consequently according to Human Rights Watch (HRW), they are subject to severe restrictions of movement, employment and religious freedom. Much of the food shortage can be attributed to a poor agricultural season in 2007 and 2008, rising food and agricultural inputs, and declining employment opportunities for the landless poor.

The price of rice was 75 per cent higher in June 2008 against 2007, prompting many Rohingya families to forgo one meal a day. Recent field reports of studies done by the WFP indicate a similar, if not worse, situation with respect to household food insecurity in the early months of this year, largely due to growing levels of debt, a reduced harvest in the main 2008-2009 agricultural season, coupled with declining opportunities for wage labour, Exacerbating the problem is the significant drop in village rice stores compared with levels typical for this time of year.

In addition, more Buddhist Rakhine families, as well as other ethnic households in the area, required assistance than before. Until recently food assistance was largely targeted at the Muslim population. According to human rights activists, restrictions imposed by authorities on the Rohingya make their plight particularly dire.

The government insists the Rohingya are Bengali and do not have the same rights as Myanmar citizens. The WFP cancelled its Foodfor- Education programme in northern Rakhine for the year 2008-2009. Although donations from the European Union and the UN are expected, they have yet to be received and the overall funding outlook for 2009 remains uncertain. WFP needs $16 million to support its food assistance activities in Myanmar, which include seven programmes in Rakhine.

Afghanistan

There is an acute shortage of food aid being delivered to Afghanistan. Despite an emergency appeal made in July 2008 for US$404 million to help the most vulnerable among the 550,000 pregnant and lactating women and under-five children in Afghanistan, nutritious food aid - specially fortified food -is yet to reach those in need.

Roughly one fourth of lactating women are malnourished and about 19 percent of pregnant women are weak and food insecure, suffering from poor nutritional status (low on minerals and vitamins).

In addition to this, more than half of the children underfive are stunted, according to a survey by UN agencies and the government. Women and children are among the most vulnerable of the millions of Afghans who have been affected by insecurity, high food prices and drought.

Oxfam has called on international donors to boost humanitarian aid deliveries: “The health of over a million young children and half a million women is at serious risk due to malnutrition but a humanitarian rescue package is only 42 per cent funded, with key sectors such as health and education less than two per cent funded.”

WFP hopes that the nutritious food aid programme will begin soon. Logistical hurdles, the security situation and several other factors have often delayed aid delivery. So far little, if any, medical relief had been provided since the emergency appeal was launched in July 2008. Afghanistan is second only to Sierra Leone in terms of having the world’s worst maternal and infant mortality rates.

Nepal

Agricultural experts in Nepal are concerned that people in already food-insecure Nepal will have to further tighten their belts in view of rising prices. According to local food traders the price of rice, increased by 24 per cent, cooking oil by 30 per cent and wheat flour by 18 per cent in 2008. High dependence on imports, an Indian export ban on key food commodities, and increasing transport costs were the main reasons for the rise in price. According to Nepal’s Rastriya Bank, food inflation in the country reached 17 per cent compared to only 10 per cent in India Natural disasters and civil unrest further worsened matters.

The Nepal WFP country representative expressed concern that the people living on the margins will suffer still further. Many people are already skipping meals and eating less nutritious food.

According to WFP, the rise in food prices has seriously affected people in western hill regions and worsened child malnutrition rates. According to the Demographic and Health Survey Nepal has one of south Asia’s worst malnutrition rates, with almost 50 per cent of children under five stunted and suffering from chronic malnutrition.

Floods and landslides in several districts throughout the country affected summer crop production in 2008, damaged farmland and severely cut crop yields, particularly of rice and millet. The north-western hill region suffered at least 30-50 per cent crop losses. According to a February 2009 FAO report, Nepal is one of the 32 countries with food crises requiring significant external assistance.

GDP and India’s hungry underbelly

Suman Sahai
Finally there is acknowledgement on the part of the government that the country is indeed facing a serious drought and a crisis in food availability. For months we were treated to the Met department statements predicting some shortfall in the rainfall, nowhere close to the calamitous situation that those who work on the ground could see developing. Until recently, the government also assured that all was under control, that the country had sufficient food reserves and there was no cause for panic. Only now have the powers that be admitted that there is indeed cause for panic.

And now that a full-blown drought is upon us, the Planning Commission has given us estimations that though the failed monsoon will shave off some points from the economic growth projections, the impact on the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) will not be significant. The Planning Commission is not overly exercised over the drop in farm output which translates into less food for the poor, more hunger all round, more anaemic mothers and a greater number of low birth weight children who will never grow up to be fully healthy adults. The human suffering that results from a drop in farm output is invisible on the paper on which the Planning Commission calculates that the current reduction in agriculture production will "have some impact but not a very large one" since agriculture contributes less than 20 per cent to the economy.

This cynical callousness is what is at the root of the problem. The real reason why droughts, floods, hunger and deprivation in rural India are year for year, treated with the disdain that we have come to expect from policy circles. Agriculture is neglected because it is not part of the charmed circle that contributes to nine per cent growth rates and to the "Shining India" that is getting ready to become a global power. Already, the government and its many economists have begun to introduce the "feel good" factor. Oh! OK! so the kharif crop has gone to the dogs… but the failed monsoon will not have any impact on the rabi (winter) crop. So now we can quit worrying because the rabi harvest will bring enough and we can stop being bothered with all these dull agriculture issues.

The fact of the matter is that in over 60 per cent of India’s agricultural belt, there will be, by and large, no rabi harvest. Regions which are termed rain-fed, still do not have any irrigation facilities, 60-odd years after Independence. The farmers there can grow only crop in the year, that is in the kharif season, when the monsoons come. If the monsoon fails, like it did this year, then the next crop will come only next year, hopefully when the next monsoon comes. In between there will be hunger.

The government has set up a National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA) with a head holding some important rank but the irrigation cover in Jharkhand is all of three per cent. This plateau region, largely rural and populated by adivasis, is one in which there will be no rabi crop in most areas. The poor in Jharkhand and other regions like it, in Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Vidarbha and so on, which are dependent on monsoons, will know a worse hunger than they do in most years.

In these regions, it did not rain from June onwards. The farmers could not plant their rice or maize but because it did not rain, the famine foods that the rural poor come to rely on, did not come up either. The bitter gaithi, a tuber that dulls the worst of the hunger, did not grow, nor did the many green plants that spring up as weeds near the crop fields. Such leafy greens like chakor add a lot to rural diets, but they are largely missing this time.

In a survey that Gene Campaign is conducting currently in villages in Jharkhand, food stocks available with families will last another two months at the outside, if the family stretches the food. This usually means, the father eats some rice along with the starchy water it is cooked in, with some salt, the children get some of the rice with what little saag can be found and the mother, gets what is left over, not very much usually. The leafy weeds which are eaten as saag, are missing and there are no fish in the rice fields. Even the mud crabs and snails, which add protein to the family’s food, are missing this year because it has been so dry for so long. These families have not eaten daal for years , even when it was Rs 20 per kg. At the current prices of Rs 60 to 70 per kg, it is not even mentioned as a food.

A global power with such a large, vulnerable underbelly? Our policymakers must reflect seriously on the price the country will have to pay for the neglect of rural India. The disaffected youth that have abandoned the mainstream are not ideological maniacs, as yet. Most are just hungry and fed-up.