Genetically modified organisms regulatory challenges and science: a Canadian perspective

The organization for economic cooperation and development (OECD) was among the first to articulate some of the core principles for Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) environmental risk assessment in the Blue Book in 1986 (OECD Recombinant DNA safety considerations: safety considerations for industrial, agricultural and environmental applications of organisms derived by recombinant DNA techniques, 1986). In Canada, consultations with the scientific community endorsed the OECD principles as an approach to the environmental risk assessment of a GMO, then went further to say that the method used to produce a plant with a novel trait was not as important as the consequences of the introduction of a novel trait to a species. This input from scientists has resulted in the unique Canadian product based plant with novel trait'' approach that despite the wider scope, effectively addresses regulatory issues such as how to deal with some of the emerging techniques for plant breeding that do not meet the regulatory definitions in more process based regulations yet may still result in plants with novel traits that a competent authority wishes to regulate. Using the early consultations on biotechnology as a model, Canada has actively sought to incorporate science in improving risk assessment methodologies for products that do not fit easily into conventional approaches such as the cultivation of modified native grasses or ornamental species for biofuel production, the use of plants as platforms for the production of industrial or immunotherapeutic products and the deployment of modified perennial species such as trees that may have more complex environmental interactions. Science remains the foundation for addressing not only new GM products but also the mass of information generated through the advances in genomics.