Annual report of the EFSA Scientific Network for Risk Assessment of GMOs for 2017

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Published on: Wed, 14 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0100

The EFSA Scientific Network for Risk Assessment of GMOs (the GMO Network) was established in accordance with EFSA’s strategy for cooperation and networking with Member States. The goals of the GMO Network are to improve dialogue among members, build mutual understanding of risk assessment principles, enhance knowledge and confidence in the scientific assessment carried out in the EU, and increase the transparency of the process among Member States and EFSA. The annual reports of the GMO Network inform the public and the EFSA Advisory Forum about the specific activities and achievements of the GMO Network. During its 2017 meeting, the GMO Network discussed the following documents and topics: explanatory note on literature searching conducted in the context of GMO applications, draft guidance for the risk assessment of the presence at low level of genetically modified plant material in imported food and feed under Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003, supplementary guidelines for the allergenicity assessment of GM plants, explanatory note on Next Generation Sequencing for the characterisation of GM plants, assessment of representativeness of sites for agronomic/phenotypic and compositional characterisation of GM plants, EFSA opinion on the 2015 annual PMEM report for maize MON810, EFSA report on the impact of teosintes, limits of concern for environmental risk assessment, baseline information to support the risk assessment of RNAi-based GM plants, omics technologies used to identify potential unintended effects in GM plants, living modified organisms and synthetic biology. In 2017, GMO Network members attended EFSA scientific meetings relevant for the risk assessment of GMOs and contributed to the development of an EFSA guidance document.