Although there is no evidence that approved genetically modified food is unsafe for human consumption, people have the right to choose not to eat it for ideological, ethical, or other reasons, said The Hindu in an editorial published Wednesday. Excerpts: Our right to know includes the right to know what we eat. We live in a transgenic age, one in which it is no longer sufficient for food labeling to stop with listing such things as nutritional values, chemical additives, and possible allergens. Informed consumer choice demands that a mechanism for mandatory labeling of GM foods is put in place. In India, the issue assumes significance with the possible commercial release of the country's first transgenic food crop, Bt brinjal, which has been placed under an indefinite, open-ended moratorium. Although Bt cotton, approved for commercialization in 2002, is not a food crop, it is well known that cotton oil produced from these transgenic plants is used as a cooking medium in many areas. Moreover, the lack of a proper labeling regime has resulted in the import of processed foods made from genetically modified material. At a time when the European Union and countries such as Australia, Japan, and China have mandatory labeling requirements of GM foods, which require food processors, retailers, and sometimes producers to display whether their products contain genetically engineered material, it is strange that India has not enforced a strict labeling regime. This despite the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare issuing rules in 2006 to include compulsory GM labeling in the Prevention of Food Adulteration Rules 1955. __
