The Union government has rejected a 1,000 ton consignment of corn-soya bean blend from the United States meant for the poor, fearing it to be genetically altered.

The ministry of environment's Genetic Engineering Approval Committee refused to allow the consignment because the US failed to certify it did not contain StarLink or any other genetically modified brand banned in India.

GEAC chairman M Gokhale, who has since moved out to the Food Corporation of India, said the government was not 'dead set against bio-engineered food', but it didn't want to take chances, either. 'All we wanted was an undertaking from an appropriate authority saying it was not StarLink,' Gokhale was quoted as saying.

The consignment was for the international voluntary groups Catholic Relief Services and CARE, for distribution through schools and churches.

CRS said it will appeal against the GEAC decision with the government's appellate authority, a one-man committee headed by former environment secretary Vishwanathan Anand. The hearing for the appeal has been scheduled for January 28.

"[The] CRS," said its Country Representative Stephen Robert Hilbert, "is just as concerned about health, particularly of the poor, as the Indian government."

He added that whatever the outcome of the hearing, his organisaton will continue to work with the government.

This is the first time the CRS had approached the Indian government for importing the blend. CRS has annual commitments in India worth $30 million, both in cash and commodities.

Hilbert said the CRS had decided to import the genetically modified commodity because the US had certified it fit for human consumption. He said he was sure that StarLink items are not present in the consignment.

Amidst protests, the GEAC had in March 2002 approved the production of three genetically modified cotton hybrids by a private company, in which US biotechnology giant Monsanto has a sizeable share.

But, the GEAC had recently refused permission for the commercial production of genetically altered mustard.