Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
after which other member-states may provide comments. If there are
any objections, EFSA's GMO panel carries out an independent safety
assessment. Under Regulation 1829/2003
28
on the market introduction
of GM foods and feeds, EFSA now has a central role in the risk assess-
ment process.
Despite EFSA's conduct of independent risk assessments, expert
advisors and regulators in several member-states have continued to raise
safety concerns, and some member-states have voted to continue their
national bans on particular GMOs. Contrary to the U.S. claims, the
European Commission provides the basis for the assurance of a high
level of protection of human health and consumers' interest in relation to
food, taking into account in particular the diversity in the supply of food
including traditional products, while ensuring the effective functioning
of the internal market. It establishes common principles and responsi-
bilities, the means to provide a strong science base, and efficient orga-
nizational arrangements and procedures to underpin decision making in
matters of food and feed safety. All GMO-related regulations and direc-
tives therefore emphasize science as the basis for agri-biotechnology
regulation, but differences in values and conflicting interests continue
to be translated into quasi-scientific issues and demands for more risk
assessment.
Critics charge that risk assessments based on substantial equivalence
or comparative safety are too dependent on assumptions and indirect
evidence. French scientists favor a multi-year toxicity study with labora-
tory animals instead of the internationally accepted ninety-day feeding
study that EFSA uses to test GMOs.
29
Others contend that each field
trial should be designed for a particular region's ecology. Some officials
have spearheaded the anti-GMO movement and declared their regions
28
Commission Regulation 1829/2003, 2003 O.J. (L268) 1-23 (EC).
29
G. E. Seraline et al., New Analysis of a Rat Feeding Study with a Genetically Modified
Maize Reveals Signs of Hepatorenal Toxicity,
Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol
(2007),
http://www.springerlink.com/content/02648wu132m07804/fulltext.html.
