Biotech Updates

Task Force to Improve GM Detection in the EU

February 22, 2008

The current quantification system requires plant species-specific reference genes to be used as an internal standard. However, numerous reference genes are currently being used. The non-harmonization of these standards normally results to redundancy among the available detection systems, expensive and time-consuming validation procedures, and therefore uncertainties to the quantification methods.

The current European Union legislation requires the labeling of products that contain transgenes higher than the 0.9 percent threshold. This requirement necessitates a reliable method for the quantification of a product’s relative GMO content. To this end, Co-Extra and its partners, the Joint Research Centre (JRC), EuropaBio, the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA), and several public laboratories, established a task force that will harmonize the reference systems used in GMO detection in the EU. The initiative is aimed towards the reduction of costs and uncertainties associated with the current GMO detection regime.

Co-Extra is an EU-funded research program on the co-existence and traceability of transgenic crops and their edible derivatives.

Interested parties are welcome to join the task force. Contact Yves Bertheau at yves.bertheau@versailles.inra.fr for more information. Read more at http://www.coextra.eu/news/news1149.html