Local biological resources watchdog, Biowatch South Africa, has expressed its concern over Parliament's Select Committee on Land and Environmental Affairs having passed the Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) bill, as its key concerns had not been addressed, Biowatch said on Tuesday.

However, the bill was passed on Tuesday, despite the Select Committee not having addressed the key concerns that it said it would before passing the bill, the Biowatch statement said.

Department of Agriculture deputy director-general Shadrak Moephuli assured the Committee that most of its concerns would be addressed in regulations to the bill, but gave no indication of when these would be published for comment, or what the process would be for finalising them.

The concerns that the committee raised included that the bill did not oblige the regulator to take public objections and input into account when it considered permit applications for GM crops.

It also failed to adequately specify who would be liable, should damage arise from GM crop use.

Currently, the bill made any person who conducted an activity with a GM crop liable, which meant that farmers who used the seed could be held liable, instead of the multinational seed companies that produced the GM seed, and own the patents to them.

In addition, the bill did not adequately specify how costs for the harmful impacts of GM crops would be recovered, particularly if their impacts only became apparent some years later.

Finally, the bill failed to adequately deal with cross-pollination from GM crops, and the resultant contamination of non-GM crops.