The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has requested the state government of Madhya Pradesh to stop the open air trial of GM corn in the city of Jabalpur.

AHRC, an UN-recognised human rights lobbying organisation based in Hong Kong, said the trial is being conducted to further the commercial interests of US-based seed company Monsanto.

The National Research Centre for Weed Science at Jabalphur starting planting the GM corn for open trial last week after receiving state approval June 19.

AHRC said the GM corn hybrid causes serious health hazards, while its herbicide-tolerant and pest-resistance traits would negatively impact the agriculture labour market and would upset the state government's commitment to traditional farming.

The GM corn's herbicide tolerance trait would cost the jobs of millions of workers whose job is de-weeding, one of the main sources of employment in rural India, the organisation said.

As a result, this technology is unsuitable for India as compared with the US where only two percent of the population lives off farming, AHRC said.

The organisation also said GM foods, in various experimental studies, were demonstrated to cause adverse health effects such as allergies, impaired immune systems, damage to vital organs and causing infertility.