Biotech Updates

Proposed Criteria for Regulatory Decision-making on GM Crops

October 28, 2011

European risk managers experience difficulty in determining the risks of GM crops to biodiversity. The reason behind this is not the lack of scientific data but the lack of clear criteria for determination of environmental harm. Thus, Olivier Sanvido of the Agroscope Reckenholz Tanikon Research Station ART in Switzerland and colleagues published a paper proposing a systematic approach that can be used to evaluate the risks of GM crops on biodiversity. This includes characterization of protection goal, evaluation of scientifically measurable entities, and differentiation between intended effects that are acceptable and harmful unintended effects.

The approach aims to help risk managers improve decision making by providing methods for deriving operational decision-making criteria from policy objectives.

Read their complete proposal at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1462901111001390.