Difference between revisions of "Team:Paris Bettencourt/Sustainability/Acceptance"
Line 8: | Line 8: | ||
<br> | <br> | ||
<br> | <br> | ||
− | Our project has a lot of paramaters that | + | Our project has a lot of paramaters that needs to be clarified because of the impact it can have on a social scale. This is why, for our project, we decided to involve authorities in India along with Indian citizen to understand how they perceive our work and what were their concerns, comments and questions. |
− | <h1 class="date two"> | + | <br> |
+ | <br> | ||
+ | One can think why we chose Idli; it is a really famous fermented dishe eaten daily all around India (see Graphic below) and loved because of it's particular taste and texture. It is a way for us to celebrate and promote Indian culture without disrupting it. | ||
+ | <h1 class="date two"> FSSAI : </h1> | ||
<br> | <br> | ||
− | During our iGEM experience, we had to contact lawmakers and assess what they were thinking about our project. | + | During our iGEM experience, we had to contact lawmakers and food safety authorities to assess what they were thinking about our project. |
For that, we contacted the FSSAI, the Food Safety and Standard Authority in India, and we had a quick reply from Dr. | For that, we contacted the FSSAI, the Food Safety and Standard Authority in India, and we had a quick reply from Dr. | ||
− | A. K. Sharma, the consultant of the FSSAI on the behalf of the Chairperson and CEO of FSSAI. He advised us to make sure we chose the right microorganisms so they can survive and work together, along with the use of critical genes for the vitamins pathways. | + | A. K. Sharma, the consultant of the FSSAI on the behalf of the Chairperson and CEO of FSSAI. He advised us to make sure we chose the right microorganisms so they can survive and work together, along with the use of critical genes for the vitamins pathways. Concerning the law, he said that there is currently no authorisation for GMO microorganisms in the Indian Food regulation and if we want to have our product in India, the safety needs to be established. |
<br> | <br> | ||
Sunita Grover, the principal scientist and head of the Dairy Microbiology Division at the National Dairy Research | Sunita Grover, the principal scientist and head of the Dairy Microbiology Division at the National Dairy Research | ||
Line 24: | Line 27: | ||
concern is safety. According to Sunita Grover, our project needs to undergo phase I and II trials, to assess safety and scientifically proven health benefits. | concern is safety. According to Sunita Grover, our project needs to undergo phase I and II trials, to assess safety and scientifically proven health benefits. | ||
<br> | <br> | ||
− | Finally, we had the chance to interview Samir K. Brahmachari, the former director of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in India. He participated to our first workshop during the NightScience and we met him again at the 2nd Annual Open Source Pharma Conference in Frankfurt, Germany. Regarding the law, there is no GM microorganisms that are allowed because of the use of antibiotic markers that makes them unsafe to eat. But if we can add a safe vitamin pathway on already eaten bacteria (lactic bacteria for example) that will be sterilized but producing enough vitamin to fortify the food, it should be possible. | + | Finally, we had the chance to interview Samir K. Brahmachari, the former director of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in India. He participated to our first workshop during the NightScience and we met him again at the 2nd Annual Open Source Pharma Conference in Frankfurt, Germany. Regarding the law, there is no GM microorganisms that are allowed because of the use of antibiotic markers that makes them unsafe to eat. But for him if we can add a safe vitamin pathway on already eaten bacteria (lactic bacteria for example) that will be sterilized but producing enough vitamin to fortify the food, it should be possible. It is not impossible that regulatory issues can undergo changes. Concerning the GMO debate in Europe and India, the main points are different: in India, people don't want GMO to be associated with farmers, they don't want them to be dependant and no one want a monopoly of a particular plant. These issues doesn't apply to our project for Samir Brahmachari, but labelling would be an problem: the use of our product only depends of people wish. If people find it beneficial and safe, they would take it. To continue, an accelerated evolution can be more acceptable for a project like ours for the GMO regulation. Also, since our project doesn't imply a big company producing and giving a product, it is more likely to work and be more accepted, as well as the way we want to implement it (give power to people, let them have their own "mini-lab" and produce their bacteria and yeast for their consumption) according to him. |
<br> | <br> | ||
<br> | <br> |
Revision as of 21:56, 18 September 2015