While the effects of the prolonged use of genetically modified food remains unknown, about 800,000 women and children have been consuming it for almost 10 years under a government nutrition scheme. This food has been provided for the Union human resources development ministry's Integrated Child Development Services project by foreign donors. The project has been on since 1975 in eight Indian states to which genetically modified food has been supplied for almost a decade now. Care India, an international NGO that is contributing to the ICDS programme, admits that a portion of their donated food is genetically modified. The Union government said it was not aware of the supply of genetically modified food under the ICDS project.
World opinion is divided on the issue.
While such food is available off the shelf in the US and UK, many international environmental agencies have called genetic modification imprecise and unpredictable. In India, the scientific community has started cautioning against genetically modified food. In USA that is not the case. Dr Krishnaswamy spoke of the need to label genetically modified food separately.