CONCLUDING CONFERENCE OF ENTRANSFOOD, THE EUROPEAN NETWORK ON SAFETY ASSESSMENT OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD CROPS 

The European Network on Safety Assessment of Genetically Modified Food Crops, ENTRANSFOOD, held its Concluding Conference in Rome, May 29-30, 2003, at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità. The Network, sponsored by the European Commission, consists of 45 participating research centres carrying out RTD projects, and 62 experts involved in Working Groups. Participants come from academia, research centres, biotech and breeding companies, food industries, food retailers, regulatory agencies and consumer groups from across Europe (entransfood.com)

At the Conference invited speakers covered various aspects of food production using modern biotechnology and of social acceptance. A Summarising Document, the Overarching Paper, was presented containing the conclusions of the Working Groups. External experts from FAO/WHO, OECD, EFSA, research centres, regulatory agencies, food industry, consumers organisations and the European Parliament were invited to comment on the Overarching Paper and to provide additional input. 

Main conclusions:

1. The establishment of a Permanent Evaluation and Discussion Platform is recommended as a follow-up of ENTRANSFOOD on the assessment and introduction of new foods in Europe produced by different breeding practises and production systems, which could significantly contribute to further development of test methods and risk analysis models, and of new procedures for a broad stakeholders involvement in the risk analysis process for these foods.

2. ENTRANSFOOD has developed a step-wise working procedure for the safety assessment of foods derived from GM crops, which offers a high level of safety assurance for the consumer. This strategy is also applicable to the new generation of GM food crops with improved nutritional characteristics.

3. ENTRANSFOOD has developed and evaluated strategies to detect unexpected effects in GM food crops. Existing targeted single compound analysis is considered adequate to identify such effects, but profiling techniques, measuring many compounds simultaneously, may compliment targeted screening, once these methods are validated and databases have been established.

4. The feasibility of post-market surveillance of GM foods as an instrument to confirm the pre-market safety assessment should be critically looked at. Its success depends on whether specific health endpoints can be identified and whether the intake of the GM food component can be realistically estimated. Questions raised during the pre-market safety assessment should be solved before a product is released on the market.

5. The risk of gene transfer from foods derived from GM crops that are currently commercially available is deemed negligible. The use of marker genes expressing resistance to antibiotics in use for medicinal or veterinary purposes has been evaluated. If the antibiotic is widely used or is a tool of last resort, such genes should be avoided. Marker genes coding for neomycin phospho transferase (nptII) or hygromycin phospho transferase (hpt) can be used without the risk of compromising human or animal health.

6. The availability of sequence information on the genetic modification and of relevant reference materials is crucial for the development of GMO detection methods. This requires joint efforts for global exchange of information on GM events on the market and under development. Appropriate traceability and segregation systems may reduce the necessity for stringent sampling schemes, but additional measures should be taken before administrative systems can effectively be applied. 

7. Public concerns should be explicitly addressed and incorporated into the risk analysis process. Further research is needed on how to formalise public engagement and consultation into new working procedures and its impact on regulatory procedures and institutions involved. 

Results of the RTD projects will be published in peer reviewed scientific journals, and papers of the Working Groups in a special volume of the Journal of Food and Chemical Toxicology. The Overarching Paper will be published by the European Commission.

2003-06-11
H.A. Kuiper, Co-ordinator ENTRANSFOOD