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Greenlight
for GM foods The move follows strong opposition from the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and member countries such as the United States, which have invested a lot of money to develop genetically modified, higher yielding varieties of crops. The Food Advisory Committee (FAC) plans to examine imported food products on a case-by-case basis, and label all GM foods, in order to allow the consumer to make a wise choice. S. Nagiah, Assistant Director of the Food Control Administration Unit, said that regulations to label all GM food products have been drafted on the basis of the 'consumers' right to know.' GM food regulations drafted under the Food Act make it mandatory for importers, producers or marketers of such foods to make an application to the FAC furnishing all technical details of the product, including its health risks and names of countries that have approved such items. The FAC would then decide whether such food products would be safe for consumption and allow them to be sold in the market on the sole condition that a GM food label is attached. Non-compliance of such regulations would result in prosecution and a fine not exceeding Rs. 50,000. However, labelling or identifying products sold in bulk such as potatoes and soya beans have not been addressed under this system. Nagiah said that it would be difficult to regulate imports that are already coming into the market. But, he added, a mechanism is being drafted through which inspecting officers would have the authority to randomly take samples from market shelves and subject them to testing for GM ingredients or specimens. Products detected without the GM labelling would be seized and destroyed or re-exported. Hemantha Withanage, Senior Environmental Scientist and Executive Director of Environmental Foundation Ltd, said that labelling GM food products is not as effective as a total ban. The government
reversed the ban because of international pressure, he said. "You're playing around with the gene pool and therefore its implications can only be seen in 15-20 years time. By that time the damage might already have been done." Withanage said that the labelling system was at least a small step in the right direction but said that since the FAC would be tackling issues on a case-by-case basis, it would take a long period of time for all imports to be properly labelled. "We will have to educate the consumer about this new label and what it means." Many consumers who have the habit of merely reading the price tag would have to be more cautious since GM foods could be relatively cheaper, he said. Withanage also called for proper legislation and a special regulatory authority, which would have more teeth in dealing with such a sensitive issue. Testing food items for GM content required sophisticated procedures and equipment in which Sri Lanka is lagging behind the rest of the world, he added. At present local production of GM foods has been ruled out and it appears that authorities would restrict such items to imports only. (SG) SLT,
Mobitel combine in new tie-up "Mobitel's GSM roll out plan was finalised in June 2002 and the tender to roll out the network will be awarded at the end of 2002. The company will also benefit by the fact that the 2.5 G core network which will be provided by suppliers who have tendered for Mobitel's new GSM service is easily upgradeable to provide 3G service at a minimum cost. A fully functional 2.5 G GSM network is expected to be in place by the first half of 2003, which will be underpinned by an investment amounting to $ 70 million over the next two years, a SLT statement said . The capital investment envisaged will ensure coverage extending to all areas and towns in all major cities including the northern and eastern regions, and all major highways and their connecting roads. The state of the art network will contain a host of currently available services such as multimedia messaging, data transmission using GPRS and information on demand services as well as futuristic 3 G services such as instant messaging, multimedia chat, rich calls, interactive gaming and interactive web services, etc. which will ensure Mobitel's customer service and product offerings are second to none. Mobitel was launched in 1995 as a joint venture between SLT and Telstra Corp of Australia and is Sri Lanka's premier cellular network with a reputation of providing the widest coverage and superior call quality. SLT is one of the country's most vital utility companies with an annual turnover in excess of Rs. 22 billion. The company employs a workforce of more than 8,000 and possesses an islandwide network. The company has had a rapid improvement in its service and productivity by tripling its network strength from 250,000 to 750,000 connections whilst maintaining the same staff strength. Budget
boosts brewers but banks battered But measures
to encourage soft liquor consumption benefited the beer companies.
The banking sector reacted badly to the budget and on Thursday the sector fell 40 percent, Sadhath Abdeen of Ceylinco Stock Brokers said. The 10 percent VAT imposed on banks was the main reason for the fall, he said. But, he added, the banking sector might recover this week. Dushyanth Wijayasingha, head of research at Asia Securities, said the introduction of new licences for soft liquor, which will allow wider distribution of beer benefited the breweries. Lion Breweries rose to Rs. 72 while Ceylon Breweries closed the week at Rs. 75. Another reason for the market's fall was the selling of shares by investors to gain capital for two important IPOs coming up in this week. Investors are looking forward to the much-awaited Initial Public Offerings of Lanka Hospital Corporation, which runs Apollo Hospitals, on November 20, and the Sri Lanka Telecom IPO on November 25. Lanka Hospital Corporation will offer 20,554,967 ordinary shares of Rs. 10 at Rs. 15 a share while a 12.5 percent stake held by the government in SLT will also be sold at an issue price of Rs. 15 - Rs. 18 a share. (Thushara Matthias) Budget
confusion over vehicles! The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC), believing it applied to the importation of re-conditioned vehicles also, in a press release expressed its concern over the move as a "retrograde step which was totally inconsistent with the policy direction on the issue, and will adversely affect the environment." A top Finance Ministry confirmed the proposal did not apply to re-conditioned vehicles whose maximum limit of three years will remain in force. "The 10-year maximum will apply only to buses, agriculture and construction equipment and other approved heavy vehicles," she said. Vehicle importers were also certain the proposal did not cover re-conditioned vehicles. Some other officials in the same ministry were also confused with the proposal while a few TV channels said it would boost the vehicle industry and bring car prices down if older reconditioned cars were allowed to be imported! (Suren) Rice
imports not seen to be hurting farmers "The customs duty which was Rs. 7 per kg earlier has now been reduced to Rs. 5 and this has no effect on local rice farmers," said K.H.J. Wijedasa, chairperson of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Food Security. The island's rice produce, which is put to the market around April, will not be affected as the duty will once again become Rs. 7 at the beginning of February, he said. Wijedasa said that the decision had been discussed and approved by three parties, namely the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Food Security, the Cabinet Sub-committee on Cost of Living and the Cabinet itself. Importers placed orders for 7,000 tonnes of rice from Pakistani suppliers as soon as the restrictions were lifted. Abdul Rahim Janoo, chairman of Pakistan's Rice Exporters' Association (REAP), was quoted as saying that the duty Pakistani exporters have to pay to export rice to Sri Lanka will be cut by 50 per cent with the signing of the free trade deal between the two countries. Sri Lanka had been a large market for Pakistani rice exporters before the ban. "We were supplying about 125,000 to 130,000 tonnes of rice to Sri Lanka which used to import about 200,000 tonnes annually two years ago," Janoo told Pakistan's APP news agency. Pakistani rice reaches Colombo within three days due to the short transit time and availability of many shipping lines on the route. (Thushara) |
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