Latest News: On August 31 the Sri Lankan government deferred its ban on GE food imports indefinitely.

Background: In April 2000 and 2001 PAN AP, along with its Steering Council members, sent a letter to the Sri Lankan government in support of its decision to ban the importation of GE foods - arguably the toughest anti GE regulatory decision taken by any Asian country to date.

Criticism from the U.S. government, in particular the claim that the decision was not based on credible scientific information, prompted PAN AP to send an information package to the Sri Lankan government in May 2001. The package contained, among other documents, scientific reports both on the potential human health and environmental hazards associated with genetic engineering and on the current regulatory models for approving GE food criticised by leading scientists as being scientifically unsound.

The package was also sent to partner groups in Sri Lanka. At their request PAN AP wrote and arranged for articles by Dr. Richard Hindmarsh (Lecturer in Contemporary Studies University of Queensland, Australia) and Dervinder Sharma (Forum for Biotechnology and Food Security, New Delhi) to be used in response to pro-GE articles appearing in the local Sri Lankan press. The response by Dervinder Sharma - "Biotechnologists and promises" was published in the Daily News, Sri Lanka on June 29.

In June the WTO succeeded in delaying the ban by 60 days until September 1. The U.S. government also threatened to use the WTO to overturn the ban. On August 10 PAN AP and partners sent a letter to Robert B. Zoellick (U.S. Trade Representative in Washington), President George Bush, and Michael Moore (WTO) and issued a press release vehemently protesting this, noting that the Sri Lankan government and its people have the right to decide on the GMO issue for themselves. The U.S. government was called upon to stop all actions to initiate WTO proceedings against Sri Lanka and to desist from influencing other governments from initiating similar actions. The press release encouraged all partners, friends and colleagues to organise similar letters of protest within their own networks and constituencies.

It was during this time that, according to the Environmental Foundation Ltd Sri Lanka/ FoE Sri Lanka, the Secretary to the Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medicine appointed an advisory committee to the Sri Lankan government with the possible intention of lifting the ban of imported GE foods indefinitely. This committee has been formed as a response to intense pressure from Embassies and the private trade sector and without the knowledge of the Food Advisory Committee (FAC)-also within the Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medicine. The call for a ban on imported GE foods was originally put forward by the FAC.

On August 20, PAN AP issued an urgent alert on the formation of this committee and its possible mandate. The alert asked partners, friends and colleagues to respond with letters of appeal to the Sri Lankan government to maintain the GE food imports ban-one of the most progressive GE-free legislative measures taken in the world to date.

The alert was circulated widely and many letters were sent to the Sri Lankan government from organisations and concerned individuals. Some of these can be obtained from the PAN AP web site.

On August 31 the Sri Lankan government deferred the ban of GE food imports indefinitely. This decision, however, will not stop the efforts of the Environmental Foundation Ltd Sri Lanka/ FoE Sri Lanka, other partners in Sri Lanka and PAN AP to continue the struggle for a GE-free Sri Lanka.

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Last Updated November 06, 2001