Biotechnology and biosafety activities at OECD - a policy development perspective
2016
Kearns, P. | Nikaido, T. | Dagallier, B. | Hosokawa, M.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has been undertaking activities related to safety in biotechnology since 1986. During the 1990s, there was an increasing focus on the environmental risk/safety assessment of transgenic organisms in commercial use, especially in agriculture. It is well known that the use of transgenic crops is controversial, especially in some countries or regions. It is also well understood that there are significant differences between jurisdictions in their approaches to the regulation of transgenic organisms. What is less well appreciated is that science-based environmental risk/safety assessment is similar among countries, especially the information that is used by regulators in undertaking risk/safety assessments. There is a broad scope, therefore, for harmonisation of the information used and the sharing of scientific information amongst national authorities. This is the basis for OECD biosafety work on environmental risk/safety assessment as well as the safety of foods and feeds. In the early stages of OECD's work, the main focus of the harmonisation efforts was on major trading commodities such as maize, soybean, rapeseed and cotton. However, in recent years, there has been an increasing shift to address other types of crops, including fruits and vegetables. This trend will be demonstrated through examples such as brassicas, cucurbits, cassava, papaya, bananas and peppers. A second trend has been the scientific development of more sophisticated techniques of modification, including, amongst others, cisgenesis, reverse breeding, agro-infiltration and grafting. The potential consequences of this trend will also be addressed, especially as they relate to the breeding of fruits and vegetables.
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