EuropaBio: ‘Science required in GMO safety’
Beat Späth, director of agricultural biotechnology at EuropaBio, has called upon the EU Commission to re-instate science in the safety assessment of genetically modified organisms (GMO).
In 2013 the commission imposed mandatory animal feeding trials for GM food and feed risk assessment even though the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) repeatedly dismissed the requirement as unnecessary. The requirement remains in place and, according to Späth, in contradiction with science-based risk assessment principles.
Späth said: “The European Commission is missing another major opportunity to ensure that European regulatory decisions are based on science. Whereas last month the commission had the opportunity to choose to reduce unnecessary testing requirements during the GMO risk assessment process, it seems to have chosen to ignore the science that proves – yet again – that some of the testing requirements are in fact not required.”
Moreover, EuropaBio has deemed this lack of action in stipulating such requirements as a ‘failure to act’ on scientific recommendation, which can be seen as inconsistent with EU legislation.
“Any risk assessment process”, Späth continued, “must be based purely on science and not politics, and it should adhere to basic risk assessment principles, which deem some of the requirements that currently exist for GM food and feed risk assessment to be totally unnecessary. There is no place for politics in the risk assessment stage. Political considerations should remain part of the risk management stage, which follows risk assessment.“
EuropaBio, the European Association for Bioindustries, promotes an innovative and dynamic European biotechnology industry.
