Sanjukta Bhattacharya

Indian Response to Genetically Modified Food and Labelling Sanjukta Bhattacharya

The Genetically Modified Foods or GMFs deriving out of the GM food crops is a unique blessing of modern biotechnology in present era. It has been pioneered by the scientific community to forgo the problems in food security in the process of revolutionizing the novel food industry . Till date with the inconclusive scientific evidence of these foods, it is undeniable that it represents diverse ramifications ranging from bio-safety violations to tortuous liability in case of consumers . The sanctity of the precautionary principle has spurted diverse outlook in the World Trade law cases. The debate pertaining to the labeling of GMFs whether in the nature of mandatory or voluntary as well as to the threshold content has aroused to a great extent consumer apathy and agitation worldwide. The only binding legal treaty Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety not addressing directly labeling of GM processed foods along with the Codex Alimentarius Commission for the sake of trade interests have presented a dubious Compiled Codex text in its recent session. The project aims to unveil the legal face of the GMF labeling in particularly Indian milieu which have invited questions.