EFSA Holds Stakeholder Workshop on Draft Guidance for GM Plant Comparators

A consultative workshop on the Draft Guidance for GM Plant Comparators was conducted by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recently. The workshop aimed to allow those who had commented in the recent written public consultation on the draft guidance to further elaborate and discuss their views and to engage directly with scientific experts from EFSA's Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms and Working Group on Comparators.

During the workshop, discussion was focused firstly on the concept of substantial equivalence in the context of regulatory environment in which EFSA operates during risk assessment of GMOs. The discussion on the comparator guideline explored the comments made during the public consultation of the draft guideline. These include discussion on risk assessment of single events, stacked events, stacked events from methods other than conventional crossing of plants, and risk assessment when no comparator is available.

The agenda and pdf copies of the presentations and discussions can be viewed and downloaded at http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/events/event/gmo110331.htm