Should GM Food Toxicity Data Be Confidential?

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Disclose Toxicity Data of GM Foods: CIC to Biotech Dept Source:Zee NewsAuthor:n/a India's Central Information Commission (CIC) has directed the national Department of Biotechnology (DBT) to provide "crucial data" pertaining to genetically modified (GM) crops to activist Divya Raghunandan of Greenpeace India. Raghunandan filed a petition for the information under India's RTI Act. The CIC decided that "toxicity and allergenicity of any product to be put on large-scale [field] trial is a matter of overriding public interest." The RTI Act exempts information from disclosure if it includes commercial confidence, trade secrets, or intellectual property, according to the article. But a rider to the act says that such details can be disclosed in the larger public interest. MAHYCO, which sells Bt cotton seeds in India and is involved in field testing a number of GM crops, had argued against Raghunandan, saying that disclosure of information pertaining of its agriculture products would affect MAHYCO's business interests. MAHYCO has now

filed an appeal with the CIC to stop the disclosure from taking place. The article can be viewed online at the link below. http://greenbio..checkbiotech.org/news/disclose_toxicity_data_gm_foods_cic_biotech_dept

 

"Vaccination wastes resources, gives false hopeand distracts attention from what needs to be done." - Dr Surinder Bakshi, Consultant Communicable Disease, UK, the Sunday Times,15 April 2001.

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