European Union
April 29, 2021

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EFSA Supporting publication 2021:EN-1973

Question Number: EFSA-Q-2020-00333

Contact: gmo_secretariat_applications@efsa.europa.eu

Abstract

RIVM was asked by EFSA in the frame of a procurement (PO/EFSA/GMO/2020/01) to produce an overview of 16 scientific opinions published by European competent authorities and national institutions since 2012 on genetically modified plants obtained by new genomic techniques (NGTs). The 16 opinions were provided by the European Commission in the frame of a mandate asking EFSA to provide an overview on the risk assessment of plants developed through NGTs based on its own previous and current work and on work carried out at national level. NGTs are defined as techniques capable to change the genetic material of an organism and that have emerged or have been developed since the adoption of the GMO legislation in 2001. Based on this definition for NGTs provided by EC, the following NGTs as described in a report of the Joint Research Council on new plant breeding techniques, published in 2011, were considered: (1) Zinc finger nuclease technology, (defined more broadly as site-directed nuclease technology); (2) oligonucleotide directed mutagenesis; (3) cisgenesis and intragenesis; (4) RNA-dependent DNA methylation; (5) grafting (on genetically modified rootstock); (6) reverse breeding; (7) agro-infiltration and (8) synthetic genomics. The current report presents the information on the defined NGTs method description and on the risk assessment of plants developed through these NGTs, as extracted from the 16 opinions. In order to extract the relevant information a baseline description for each NGT was set and inclusion and exclusion criteria for information extraction were defined. Most (14 out of 16) opinions discuss the SDN technology, whereas no opinion contains information on synthetic genomics. A new NGT, base-editing, is described in four opinions and therefore information on this technique is also presented. As specified by the procurement, no critical appraisal on the information extracted from the scientific opinions was performed.

© European Food Safety Authority, 2021

Website: http://www.efsa.europa.eu

Published: April 29, 2021