Indepth: Food Safety

Communities in peril

Date: 23/06/2010

This new report by PAN-AP reveals that hazardous pesticides are commonly used in unsafe situations around the world, and calls for assertive action by corporations, governments and international bodies to address pesticide hazards.

Related:

Report: Monitoring of highly hazardous pesticide use: Asia
Report: End of the road for endosulfan
Report: Pesticide risks among farm workers in Kerala
Feature: Healthcare in Malwa in shambles
Report: Pesticide use in the rice bowl of Kerala
Feature: Lies, damn lies and endosulfan
Feature: What Dubey did
Report: Pesticide residues in farmers of Punjab

Latest News from Down To Earth

Billed to confuse

If the nationwide furore over Bt brinjal was driven by the fear of unsafe food being pushed down the throat, the proposed Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (brai) bill goes a step further to silence all opposition. The bill will bring about changes in regulating the research, transport, import, manufacture and use of genetically modified (GM) products in the country.

GM food debate hots up again

Gilles-Eric Seralini, one of the first scientists to warn the world about the dangers of genetically modified food, counters pro-GM scientists in an interview with Savvy Soumya Misra. Some scientists are planning to write to the Indian government, saying you never carried out any independent study and had no access to Bt gene of maize or brinjal. What do you have to say?

Government Policies and Action Plans

Revised draft on regulation of trans fatty acids (TFAs) in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (PHVOs)

01 May 2010

This draft on Regulation of Trans Fatty Acids ,TFAs, in Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils, PHVOs by FSSAI has proposed that Level of TFA in Vanaspati / PHVO, be fixed at 10% maximum and brought down to 5% in 3 years.

Revised draft on regulation of energy drinks, and caffeine

01 May 2010

Energy drinks are non-alcoholic beverages containing caffeine, guarana, glucuronolactone, taurine, ginseng, inositol, carnitine, B-vitamins etc. as main ingredients that act as stimulants. In recent years, a number of different energy drinks have been introduced in the Indian market to provide an energy boost or as dietary supplements.

Health Effects

Who benefits from GM crops?

This report by Friends of the Earth - International shows that there is growing opposition to genetically modified (GM) crops in many parts of the world. People and governments are extremely cautious about the adoption of GM crops due to escalating public concern about their socio-economic, environmental, and health impacts.

Source: Friends of the Earth International

Tags: Agriculture, Crops, Food Safety, Global, GM Crops, GMOs, Health Effects, Pesticide Use, Pesticides, Environment, India, Pesticides And Toxins
Communities in peril: Asian regional report on community monitoring of highly hazardous pesticide use

This report details the results of a community monitoring study aimed at investigating the use and impacts of pesticides in affected communities in Asia, and observance of the International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides (the Code of Conduct). The monitoring took place in the context of increasing use of pesticides and associated

Source: Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Asia and the Pacific

Tags: Agricultural Labourers, Andhra Pradesh, Asia, Chittoor (D), Farmers, Food Safety, Health Effects, Kerala, Orissa, Pesticide Poisoning, Pesticide Use, Pesticides, Rayagada (D), Thrissur (D), India, Pesticides And Toxins

Genetic gamble: safe food - the end of choice?

Source: Greenpeace India

Tags: Agriculture, Food Safety, GM Crops, GMOs, Health Effects, India, Pesticides And Toxins
Food for thought: issues of food safety

Source: Toxics Link

Tags: Food Additives, Food Adulteration, Food Contamination, Food Safety, Heavy Metals, Maximum Residue Level (MRL), Mercury, Pesticides, India, Pesticides And Toxins
A review of Mahyco's GM Brinjal food safety studies

Source: Institute of Health and Environmental Research Inc

Tags: Agriculture, Bt Brinjal, Food Safety, GM Crops, GMOs, Health Effects, Mahyco, Supreme Court, Toxicity Studies, Vegetables, India, Pesticides And Toxins
Fatty acids profile of edible oils and fats in India

Source: Centre for Science and Environment

Tags: CSE Study, Edible Oils, Fast Foods, Food Process Industry, Food Safety, Food Standards, Health Effects, Heart Diseases, Obesity, India, Pesticides And Toxins
Guidelines for the safety assessment of foods derived from genetically engineered plants

Source: Indian Council of Medical Research

Tags: Agriculture, Biotechnology, Food Safety, Genetic Engineering, GM Crops, Health Care, Health Effects, India, Pesticides And Toxins

Regulations

Draft on operationalizing the regulation of genetically modified foods in India

FSSAI guidelines on operationalizing regulation of GM Foods in India. FSSAI will assess GM foods at the level of an “event”and approvals will apply to foods derived from the event, its progeny and any food stuffs that contain ingredients derived from the approved event and its progeny.

Source: Food Safety and Standards Authority of India

Tags: Agriculture, Food Safety, Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, Food Safety And Standards Authority Of India (FSSAI), Food Standards, GM Crops, GMOs, India, Pesticides And Toxins
Food safety and standards rules, 2009

In exercise of the powers conferred by section 91 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (34 of 2006), the Central Government hereby makes the rules. These rules may be called the Food Safety and Standards Rules, 2009. They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the official Gazette.

Source: Food Safety and Standards Authority of India

Tags: Food Safety, Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, Food Safety And Standards Authority Of India (FSSAI), Food Standards, India, Pesticides And Toxins

Impact

Public opinion survey on GE foods

This recent report on GM foods released by Greenpeace provides the perspective on citizens' views on GM foods. 87% of people have said that they have the right to information related to GM foods, before the decisions on GM/ GE foods are made.

Source: Greenpeace India

Tags: Agriculture, Bangalore (T), Bt Brinjal, Calcutta (T), Delhi, Genetic Engineering, GM Crops, Guwahati, Indore (T), Mumbai, India, Pesticides And Toxins

Safety evaluation of certain food additives

The monographs contained in this volume were prepared at the seventy-first meeting of the Joint Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)/ World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), which met at WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on 16–24 June 2009.

Source: WHO

Tags: Acute Toxicity, Food Additives, Food Contamination, Food Safety, Food Standards, Food Policy, Pesticides And Toxins

Books

The pesticide detox: towards a more sustainable agriculture

Since the 1960s, the world's population has more than doubled and agricultural production per person has increased by a third. Yet this growth in production has masked enormous hidden costs arising from widespread pesticide use - massive ecological damage and high incidences of farmer poisoning and chronic health effects.
Pesticide residues in food and drinking water: human exposure and risks

This book describes the issues surrounding pesticide residues in food and drinking water and, in particular, the issues associated with human exposure and consumer risk assessment.