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Status of Animal Welfare reflects the status of Human Civilization > World Animal Day Special

On the occasion of “World Animal Day”

Status of Animal Welfare reflects the status of Human Civilization

By:
Vijay Sardana
Advocate, Supreme Court of India

What can be a better example of Animal Welfare than this?

In the Bhagavad-gītā, God says that
"All living entities are My part and parcels."
Manaḥ ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati (BG 15.7)

Indian religious scriptures and historical texts are full of examples that the human-animal bond is a mutually beneficial and dynamic relationship between people and animals that is influenced by behaviours considered essential to the health and well-being of both. 

The activities of ancient Indians were woven around the animals. Therefore, they knew the happenings of the animal world as much as today's ardent students of zoology and veterinary science. This vast knowledge has been recorded in the scriptures of the time. The Upanishads contain detailed descriptions of horses and cattle. The Garudapurana contains life-histories of fishes and turtles. There are also religious books dedicated to a specific animal. Nagamahdimya, Nandi-purdoa, Mayiratrahimya and Pashu-puriltia are only a few of them. These writings are older than other scriptures of the world; they contain very modern concepts such as the origin of life, organic evolution and environmental science. 

The bond includes but is not limited to the emotional, psychological, and physical interactions of people, animals, and the environment.  The role of society in the human-animal bond is to maximize the potential of this relationship between people and animals and specifically to promote the health and well-being of both. The emperors, kings and queens adopted different animals as their emblems.

Our History can teach us a lot about animal welfare

In todays’ world, Animal welfare is a complex and multifaceted subject with scientific, ethical, economic, cultural, social, religious and political dimensions. It is attracting growing interest from civil society.

Unfortunately, nowadays, social media is flooded with messages about cruelty against animals, illegal slaughtering, inhumane ways of transportation, pictures of starving animals or eating garbage and plastic. The reaction of the people to these pictures clearly indicates that society is concerned about animal welfare. That is why we have many court orders and laws to protect animal welfare.

World Animal Day and Animal Welfare Boards are spreading messages in this regard and animal lovers have a reason to cheer. 

What is Animal Welfare in modern scientific terms?

Protecting an animal's welfare means providing for its physical and mental needs. There are numerous perspectives on animal welfare that are influenced by a person's values and experiences. There are also various means of measuring animal welfare, including, but not limited to, health, productivity, behaviour, and physiological responses.

Animal welfare means how an animal is coping with the conditions in which it lives. An animal is in a good state of welfare if, as indicated by scientific evidence, it is healthy, comfortable, well-nourished, safe, able to express innate behaviour, and if it is not suffering from unpleasant states such as pain, fear, and distress. Good animal welfare requires disease prevention and veterinary treatment, appropriate shelter, management, nutrition, humane handling, and humane slaughter. 

Animal welfare refers to the state of the animal; the treatment that an animal receives is covered by other terms such as animal care, animal husbandry, and humane treatment. 

Animal welfare is the human responsibility

Ensuring animal welfare is a human responsibility that includes consideration for all aspects of animal well-being, including proper housing, management, nutrition, disease prevention and treatment, responsible care, humane handling, and, when necessary, humane euthanasia.

Animal Welfare Principles in modern Animal Husbandry

Many authorities for the health and welfare of animals, offer the following eight integrated principles for developing and evaluating animal welfare policies, resolutions, and actions.

• The responsible use of animals for human purposes, such as companionship, food, fibre, recreation, work, education, exhibition, and research conducted for the benefit of both humans and animals, is to be consistent with humanity.

• Decisions regarding animal care, use, and welfare shall be made by balancing scientific knowledge and professional judgment with consideration of ethical and societal values.

• Animals must be provided water, food, proper handling, health care, and an environment appropriate to their care and use, with thoughtful consideration for their species-typical biology and behaviour.

• Animals should be cared for in ways that minimize fear, pain, stress, and suffering.

• Procedures related to animal housing, management, care, and use should be continuously evaluated, and when indicated, refined or replaced.

• Conservation and management of animal populations should be humane, socially responsible, and scientifically prudent.

• Animals shall be treated with respect and dignity throughout their lives and, when necessary, provided a humane death.

• The veterinary profession shall continually strive to improve animal health and welfare through scientific research, education, collaboration, advocacy, and the development of legislation and regulations.

How to improve the future of Animal Welfare in Modern India?

• The establishment, implementation, and support of principles and standards designed to continuously improve animal welfare is a complex dynamic involving animal needs, human needs, societal expectations, and environmental and other sustainability concerns. 

• Actions employed to improve animal welfare should be informed by veterinary, ethological, ecological, economic, and ethical considerations. 

• Veterinarians and livestock farmers are, and must continually strive to be, the leading advocates for animal welfare in a continually evolving society.

• Livestock farmers, Livestock value chain participants, veterinarians, veterinary medical associations, animal control agencies, and animal welfare organizations should collectively promote responsible animal ownership and humane care of animals.  

• Law must consider Immunity from liability in any civil, criminal, or state action to any veterinarian and farmer who reports, in good faith, a suspected case of animal abuse or neglect to the proper authorities. 

What should be done by Indian authorities to ensure animal welfare?

1. Two thousand-year-old Panchatantra contains numerous stories in which the animals have been given prominence, and should be mandatory for all primary schools.

2. Creation of animal welfare standards for shelter houses so that the stray animals do not become a cause of concern for citizens and farmers.

3. Crowdfunding sources can be designed to ensure sufficient funding for these shelter houses.

4. Local communities should be encouraged and trained to take care of stray animals, in place of external NGOs. Local communities can act as guardians of the shelter and economic gains from these animal shelters should be dedicated for animal welfare activities within the village community, only for common causes related to animal welfare only like construction of water points, feeding points, community biogas plants at the shelter house, free immunization and vaccination for village animals, etc.

5. Teaching about animal welfare is key in providing a complete education in veterinary medicine. The Model animal welfare syllabus can be designed by the Veterinary Council of India and can serve as a guide to meet the core competencies that veterinarians need to learn before graduating.

Your inputs and suggestions can improve the animal welfare status in India.

Feel free to share and comment.

Why are “White-collar Crimes” growing with the growing economy? An Analysis.

 Why are “White-collar Crimes” growing with the growing economy? An Analysis.

By:

Vijay SARDANA FICA, MIMA

PGDM (IIM, Ahmedabad), LLB, M.Sc. (Food Tech) (CFTRI), B.Sc. (Dairy Tech)

PGD in Arbitration, Intl. Trade Laws & Alt. Dispute Resolution, IPR (WIPO), Justice (Harvard)

Advocate, Delhi High Court & NGT

Arbitrator, Indian Council of Arbitration

Contents

• What motivated me to write this series?

•  Who are the criminals in white-collar crime?

•  Who are the victims of these white-collar crimes?

• Types of White-Collar Crimes

• Typical white-collar crimes in the commercial world

• Reasons for the growth of white-collar crimes

• Role of investigation agencies

• What should you do?

• What next?

 What motivated me to write this series?

In recent times, many friends and business people have approached me to share their business disputes and related issues. In most cases, it was a typical white-collar crime.

The only reason why they all were suffering was due to many reasons.

Some of them were:

• Long term friendship or trust with the other party

• Ignorance about the implications of the languages used in the agreements.

• Casual attitude and not reading the contract carefully which is modified by the other party.

• Not aware of how to draft a right and binding contract

• Cut-paste attitude in drafting without understanding the implications.

• Lack of performance parameters in the agreement

• In many cases, extreme volatility in the market also forces people to escape from their commitments and commit a white-collar crime under one pretext or the other.

• Manipulators used the fake test reports and supplied the products.

• Products adulterated with certain external items to manipulate the test results of substandard products – like protein content, etc.

• There are many other creative methods of crime in the securities and commodities market.

And many more ways to commit white-collar crime.

Origin of the term - "White-collar crime"

In criminology literature, blue-collar crime is any crime committed by an individual from a lower social class instead of white-collar crime which is associated with the crime committed by someone of a higher-level social class. While blue-collar crime has no official legal classification, it holds to a general net group of crimes. These crimes are primarily small scale, for immediate beneficial gain to the individual or group involved in them. This can also include personal related crimes that can be driven by immediate reaction, such as during fights or confrontations. These crimes include but are not limited to personal fight, narcotic production or distribution, sexual assault, theft, burglary, assault, or murder, etc.

White-collar crime is "a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of their occupation".

Reportedly coined in 1939 the term white-collar crime is now synonymous with the full range of frauds committed by business and government professionals. These crimes are characterized by deceit, concealment, or violation of trust and are not dependent on the application or threat of physical force or violence. The motivation behind these crimes is financial—to obtain or avoid losing money, property, or services or to secure a personal or business advantage.

In many court cases or cases in the tribunals, the author has noticed many creative ways of doing frauds. These will be discussed in future articles.

The purpose of this blog is to make you aware of the types of white-collar crimes so that you can protect yourself and your organization as well. To know the update, follow this blog and the author on various social media platforms.

Who are the criminals in white-collar crime?

The term "white-collar crime" refers to financially motivated, nonviolent crime committed by individuals, businesses, and government professionals.

The term white-collar crime is now synonymous with the full range of frauds committed by business executives and government professionals. These crimes are characterized by deceit, concealment, or violation of trust. These crimes are not dependent on the application or threat of physical force or violence.

What is the motive behind the white-collar crime?

The motivation behind these crimes is generally financial — to obtain or avoid losing money, property, or services or to secure a personal or business advantage.

Who are the victims of these white-collar crimes?

These are not victimless crimes, a single scam can destroy a company, devastate families by wiping out their life savings, or cost investors billions of dollars (or even all three).

Today’s fraud schemes are more sophisticated than ever, and the many investigating agencies have dedicated themselves to using their skills to track down the culprits and stop scams before they start.

Types of White-Collar Crimes

In investigating agencies white-collar crime work integrates the analysis of intelligence with its investigations of criminal activities such as:

• Bank fraud

• Corporate fraud

• Election law violations

• Embezzlement

• Financial institution fraud

• Fraud against the government

• Health care fraud

• Insurance Fraud

• Mass marketing fraud

• Money laundering

• Mortgage fraud

• Public corruption

• Securities and commodities fraud

• Taxes related fraud

Typical white-collar crimes in the commercial world

 Some of the common white-collar crimes in the commercial world are:

• Adulteration

• Bribery

• Copyright infringement

• Cybercrime

• Embezzlement

• Fake products

• Forgery

• Fraud

• Identity theft

• Insider trading

• Intellectual property theft

• Labour racketeering

• Misleading claims

• Money laundering

• Ponzi schemes

• Stock market frauds

• Unfair Trade Practices

• Wage theft

Reasons for the growth of white-collar crimes

• Easy access to sensitive information

• The greed of people in position and power

• Growing competition and growing pressure on performance

• Lack of capability among enforcement agencies

• Lack of deterrence like very negligible penalties and punishments

• Lack of education and training on prevention

• Lack of proper laws to prevent such crimes.

• Peer groups and industry associations not objecting to unfair business practices indirectly encouraging an unethical culture in business.

• Return from crime is higher than proposed punishments.

• Slow Court procedures indirectly provide financial incentive to undertake crime.

• Use of sophisticated technologies as a powerful tool for various crimes.

• White-collar crime overlaps with corporate crime.

Role of investigation agencies

The investigating agencies generally focus on complex investigations—often with a nexus to organized crime activities—that are international, national, or regional in scope and where the investigating agencies can bring to bear unique expertise or capabilities that increase the likelihood of successful investigations.

The investigating agencies special agents work closely with other law enforcement and regulatory agencies such as the Income Tax departments, Corporate Affairs, Securities Exchanges, Commodity Exchanges, Customs Revenue Service, Narcotics Department, Immigration Departments, Postal & Telecommunication departments, Crimes Detection & Law Enforcement Networks within and outside the country, among others, targeting sophisticated, multi-layered fraud cases that harm the economy.

What should you do?

If you are part of the commercial world, there can be many ways you can be cheated or trapped.

In many cases, the author has personally witnessed the following:

• Additional cost for rectification

• Competitors may exploit the opportunity to hurt the brand

• Disruption in project execution

• Disruption in supplies

• Increased liabilities with the bankers and financial institutions

• Internal disputes within the company

• Land-up with sub-standard products and services

• Litigation between the parties

• Litigations from your buyers due to breach of contract

• Loss of business relations

• Loss of reputation in the market

• Loss of time and business opportunity

• Many key management people leave the company.

• Non-compliance with Regulatory commitments

• Non-payment for the supplies

• Production loss

• Serious Corporate Governance issues

• Unwanted Investigations

And there can be many more implications.

What next?

The best way to minimize these white-collar crimes is to create mass awareness and build safeguards and preventive approaches.

In future articles, I will share some interesting live cases and the learning from them. Hope you will join the discussion.

It is simple, please follow the blog and the author on social media platforms so that you do not miss out on the interesting analysis.

If you are the victim of any such situation, feel free to contact me to share your experience, all information will be kept confidential.

Disclaimer: The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

Labelling of GM Foods: Consumers’ Legal Right vs. Technological Limitation

Labelling of GM Foods:

Consumers’ Legal Right vs. Technological Limitation

What should India do to address this techno-legal challenge?

When organic and sustainable certification is mandatory and desirable, similarly GMO certification should be considered.

By:

Vijay SARDANA

PGDM (IIM, Ahmedabad), LLB, M.Sc. (Food Tech) (CFTRI), 

B.Sc. (Dairy Tech), PGD in Arbitration, Intl. Trade Laws & Alt. Dispute Resolution,

IPR (WIPO), Justice (Harvard)

Advocate, Delhi High Court

Expert of Techno-legal Matters

Independent Director on Corporate Boards

India is importing a large number of food items and consumers are consuming them without knowing what they are eating. Consumers have a right to know how food is produced. Many consumers are now very sensitive hence there are many social movements towards the environment, animal welfare, GMO, vegan, organic production, responsible fishing,  water footprint, etc

“Right to Know” is Fundamental Right as well as Commercial Right

GM food labelling is one such interesting area for techno-legal analysis. Consumers have the right to know how food is produced and delivered to them because their actions can impact various dimensions of society, the environment. Consumers want to make an informed decision and do not want to be a party to any process and decisions that are not in line with their beliefs and ethics.

We should keep in mind it is a very complex issue because stakes are very high for all stakeholders. This issue has many interlinked dimensions. Approval of GM technology used in the food system in India will have serious implications on law, society, religion, ethics, environment, technology, politics and economy. It is a more complicated issue in a complex society like India where there are so many religious and emotional issues related to plant and animal life. In a society where plants and animals are worshipped, the identity preservation of the living objects matters.

Why is GM labelling crucial?

The way genetic technology is advancing, it is possible that genes of one species can be administered into another species. It is also possible to inject genes of animals and insects into fruits and vegetables to improve a particular trait. Example: genes from pig if introduced into tomatoes to improve the shelf-life and hardness of the tomato skin of the tomatoes to minimize transport damages., or fish genes into some other crop, etc. to improve keeping quality or vitamin content in the product. 

• Now the issue is how the consumer will react?

• Is animal genes in plant crops acceptable to vegan society?

• Should devotees offer such products in temples, where devotees don’t even consume root vegetables like onions, potatoes and garlic?

• What should be the labelling on such foods to ensure product integrity?

Law should facilitate an informed decision:

When the situation is complex, the simple and effective approach is to increase transparency in decision making at all levels. So that people make an informed choice. People may want to know what they are eating. When it comes to food, ultimately, it is the consumer who has to take a final call to eat or not to eat. 

 

Consumers have the right to know and WTO:

On July 5, 2011, More than 100 countries agreed on long-overdue guidance on the labelling of genetically modified (GM) food. The Codex Alimentarius Commission of the UN, made up of the world’s food safety regulatory agencies, has been labouring for two decades to come up with consensus guidance. In a striking reversal of their previous position during the annual Codex summit in Geneva, the US delegation dropped its opposition to the GM labelling guidance document, allowing it to move forward and become an official Codex text. The new Codex agreement means that any country wishing to adopt GM food labelling will no longer face the threat of a legal challenge from the World Trade Organization (WTO). This is because national measures based on Codex guidance or standards cannot be challenged as a barrier to trade. This will have immediate implications for consumers.

Labelling of GM foods

All food products, whether organic or non-organic, must comply with the labelling rules. These Consumer protection ACt and FSSAi Act must ensure that labels be:

• truthful

• not deceptive

• not misleading

• not an untrue impression of the foods:

• merit

• safety

• quality

Besides, special labelling is required for all foods, including GM foods, where there are health and safety concerns such as:

• the potential to cause allergic reactions

• changes to the composition of the food

• changes to the nutritional quality of the food

Such labelling is required to alert consumers or susceptible groups in the population.

Types of GM Labelling in various countries

The regulatory approaches on GM food labelling vary in different countries and areas. This can be broadly classified as voluntary or mandatory.

Voluntary labelling approach:

For the voluntary labelling approach, only GM food that is significantly different from its conventional counterpart, in terms of composition, nutritional value and allergenicity, needs to be labelled.

Mandatory labelling approach:

For the mandatory labelling approach, it can be further classified into two categories, i.e. "pan-labelling" or "labelling for designated products only". The "pan-labelling" category requires that any food products, which contain GM materials exceeding a threshold level or have any significantly different characteristics as a result of genetic modification, must be labelled. 

The "labelling for designated products only" category requires that only the designated products, which are genetically modified, need to be labelled.

Pros and Cons of Major Labelling Approaches

1. Voluntary Labelling Approach

1. Pros

1. Appropriate labels on GM foods that are significantly different from their conventional counterparts help to alert consumers of their differences in terms of allergenicity, nutrition and toxicity. Therefore, this labelling approach addresses the basic concerns of most consumers and hence safeguards public health against any potential risks.

2. This approach imposes fewer barriers and constitutes fewer trade implications. It is adopted by some GM crops producers and also our important trading partners.

3. Many importing countries or buyers may protest against labelling requirements (e.g. pan-labelling of all GM foods) that are more stringent than the labelling of GM food with significantly different characteristics as an unnecessary barrier to international trade.

4. This labelling approach would not significantly affect the cost of food production.

2. Cons

1. Consumers would not know whether the food contains any GM materials. This labelling approach hence limits their rights to "informed choices". 

2. Many consumers would like to make their choices not only based on food safety grounds but also taking environmental, social or ethical issues into consideration.

2. Mandatory Labelling Approach

1. "Pan-labelling"

1. Pros

1. Labelling of all GM foods enables consumers to know whether the food contains any GM materials at all and hence make informed choices.

2. It helps to enhance surveillance and tracing on GM food.

2. Cons

1. Additional costs to the trade would be incurred.

2. These costs would either be absorbed by the trade or passed on to the consumers and hence the extent of any price changes due to labelling GM food is uncertain. 

3. Additional costs of labelling GM food may arise from traceability requirements.:

4. Without labelling law, GM crops/foods and non-GM crops/foods are often mixed together during harvesting, storage or processing. It would be necessary to establish a system to segregate these crops along the food supply chain, especially when the trade would like to source for non-GM food products. Hence additional cost would be incurred to establish and maintain segregation systems. 

5. The detection and identification of GM foods, which require sophisticated laboratory tests, might also incur additional cost.

3. "Labelling for designated products only"

1. Pros

1. Labelling for designated food products enables consumers to know whether the designated food items contain any GM materials and hence make informed choices.

2. Moreover, this labelling requirement is possible to be enforced.

2. Cons

1. It might not address the need of consumers who would like to know whether the non-designated food items contain any GM materials or not.

2. Additional costs might be added to the designated food items.

Challenge is GM Foods supply chains:

The requirement to label all GM foods is not easy to enforce because:

• The Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling under Codex Alimentarius Commission is still working towards the harmonisation of testing methods for GM food. Besides, not all GM food products are readily identifiable by end-product analysis.

• Adventitious mixing of GM and non-GM crops may occur during processing and storage, hence the establishment of a threshold level may be necessary to determine whether the batch of the food product is GM or not. 

• There is no international consensus on the threshold level for GM food labelling.

Issues to be considered in Setting-up a Labelling System:

Different labelling approaches have their merits and shortcomings. Issues to be considered in setting up a practical and balanced labelling system include:

1. Limitation of Detection Methods

Difficulties in the detection of GM materials include:-

• At present, there is no international consensus on analytical methods for the detection of GM food.

• Not all GM food products can be identified by end-product analysis.

• Detection methods for highly processed foods e.g. soy lecithin are less sensitive and reliable when compared with raw or lightly processed foods, e.g. tofu (soy).

• For highly refined food items such as oil and sugar, it is impossible to detect the presence of any GM materials.

• There is no single test that can be used to detect all types of GM materials.

2. Present Practices of the Food Supply Chain

• Since GM and non-GM crops are often mixed together during harvest, transportation, processing and storage, it is difficult to determine the GM status of the respective crops/foods.

• A system to segregate GM and non-GM products at various stages of processing along the food supply chain need to be set up and maintained.

3. Costs of Compliance

• The costs of compliance with GM food labelling requirements will either be absorbed by the trade or passed on to the consumers and hence the extent of any price changes due to labelling of GM food is uncertain in the short run.

4. International Practices

• The Codex Alimentarius Commission, the authority for setting food-related standards under the United Nations, considers that governments of different places may make their own decisions on whether or not to label GMO food

International Practices on GM Food Labelling in various countries

100 plus countries in Codex meetings have agreed that GM labelling is important and should be done.

The Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex) considers that governments of different places may make their own decisions on whether or not to label GMO food. The emphasises that labelling arrangements should be in conformity with the provisions promulgated by the Codex to avoid potential trade issues. At present, policies on GM food labelling vary in different countries and areas:

Canada and the United States

Labelling of GM foods is only required when the food is significantly different from its conventional counterpart in terms of composition, nutrition and allergenicity. However, the trade may label other GM foods voluntarily. In Canada, a set of guidelines for voluntary labelling of GM foods was issued in April 2004. While, in the United States, public consultation on draft guidelines for voluntary labelling has been finished but finalisation of the guidelines is still pending.

Member countries from the European Union: 

All GM foods have had to be labelled in countries of the European Union since 1998. This policy was amended by the European Commission in November 2003. The new requirement stipulates that all foods produced from Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) should be labelled, irrespective of whether the DNA or protein of GM origin is detectable in the final product. Moreover, conventional foods with the adventitious presence of GM materials of higher than 0.9% should also be labelled.

Australia and New Zealand

The Australian and New Zealand authorities decided that all food products produced or imported had to be labelled starting from 7 December 2001 when any of their ingredients contain more than 1% GM material. Additional labelling was also required for GM food ingredients with significantly altered characteristics. 

Highly refined foods, processing aids or food additives with the absence of GM materials, flavours in a concentration no more than 1g/kg in the final food, as well as foods prepared at point of sale are exempted from the GM food labelling requirement.

Japan

The Japanese authorities have required designated agricultural products and processed food items containing GM materials to be labelled. For the processed food items, those ingredients containing GM materials that are ranked within the top three constituents in terms of weight and the weight ratio of which account for five per cent or more of the total weight have to be labelled. Labelling is not required for oil and sauce, where the original GM materials can no longer be detected.

Republic of Korea

The Korean authority requires that all approved genetically modified agricultural products (including bean sprout originated from approved beans and other sprouts), which contain more than 3% GM materials have to be labelled. Besides, processed foods that contained these approved GM products as one of the top five ingredients were required to be labelled.

Taiwan

In Taiwan, mandatory labelling of designated foods has been implemented in three phases according to the degree of processing of the food products, and the last phase has come into effect from January 2005. Under the labelling requirement, foods containing ingredients of GM soya bean or corn which is more than 5% of the total weight of the finished product have to be labelled. Moreover, soya bean or corn, which is adventitiously or accidentally mixed with not more than 5% of GM varieties during harvest, storage, transportation or other reasonable causes, is regarded as "non-GM". Food products made of non-GM soya bean or corn may be labelled as "non-GMO" or "not-GM".

Mainland China 

The Ministry of Agriculture enacted a regulation "Implementation Regulations on Labelling of Agricultural Genetically Modified Organisms" which was effective on 20 March 2002. Under the regulation, five categories of GM crops including soya bean, corn, cotton, rapeseed and tomato, as well as some of their products are required to be labelled. On the other hand, the Ministry of Health enacted a regulation, "Measures for the Administration of Novel Foods", on GM food in December 2007. This regulation stipulated that all GM foods should be properly labelled.

Other places in Asia

Some other Asian countries such as Thailand and the Philippines have also set up regulations on GM food labelling.

What Indian policymakers should do?

GM food is an interesting area for techno-legal analysis. We should keep in mind it is a very complex issue because stakes are very high for all stakeholders. This issue has many interlinked dimensions. Approval of GM technology used in the food system in India will have serious implications on law, society, religion, ethics, environment, technology, politics and economy. It is a more complicated issue in a complex society like India where there are so many religious and emotional issues related to plant and animal life. In a society where plants and animals are worshipped, the identity preservation of the living objects matters.

Traceability from GM seed to retailing is a must:

Codex Alimentarius Commission (“Codex”) adopted guidelines allowing the labelling of genetically modified (“GM”) food products. Clearly, the GM Guidelines suggest that countries may implement one of the many different approaches regarding the labelling of GM food products, provided that they are consistent with already adopted Codex provisions.

In order to ensure the integrity of organic foods, there is an application of traceability systems, similar concepts should be mandatory for GM crops as well. Food safety laws around the world are moving towards making traceability and identity preservation mandatory. 

With the advancement of information technologies like blockchain, barcoding and QR codes, GPS, etc, it is easy to ensure traceability. Law should ensure labelling with suitable technology support to avoid any controversy and social and political implications. 

Simple & Cost-Effective Approach countries can adopt:

In the case of imported foods, the authorities of exporting country in the Country of Origin certificate must mention, whether the product contains GMO or not, as per the norms prescribed by the importing country government like exporters do when they export organic foods or products with sustainability certification to any country. Similarly, in this case, the exporter will follow the guidelines of the importing country, as it is happening in other products. This will reduce the requirement of testing in the country by Indian authorities. In a world where we emphasise democracy and the right to information, this is in line with the same principles.

In my view, it is useful to go for mandatory labelling to avoid any controversy in a complex society like India. Why policymakers avoid regulatory arbitrage in one form or the other. Let the consumer decide what they want to eat. The consumer should have the right to know. 

Consumers ‘ right to know should be respected. After all, it is their health, their beliefs, their own sentiments and their money which they are sending. They must know what they are eating and serving.

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