Overview of EFSA and European national authorities' scientific opinions on the risk assessment of plants developed through New Genomic Techniques

The European Commission requested EFSA to provide an overview on the risk assessment of plants developed through new genomic techniques (NGTs), taking into account its previous scientific opinions, its ongoing work on the topic as well as opinions published by competent authorities and national institutions since 2012, where available. In this report, NGTs are defined as techniques capable to change the genetic material of an organism and have emerged or developed since the adoption of the 2001 genetically modified organism (GMO) legislation. EFSA considered 16 scientific opinions issued by European member states ('MS opinions') as well as three EFSA GMO Panel scientific opinions on NGTs. A procurement to evaluate and summarise the MS opinions was conducted. Relevant information on the description of each NGT and information on the risk assessment of plants developed through one or a combination of the defined NGTs was extracted and summarised. The baseline for the types and nature of NGTs to be included in this report was defined based on the JRC, 2011 report on new plant breeding techniques as well as on the Explanatory Note on New Techniques in Agricultural Biotechnology from the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety (EC-SAM, 2017) for some more recently developed NGTs, taking into account the NGT definition provided by the European Commission for this mandate. EFSA was not requested to develop new opinions on plants developed through specific NGTs, and thus, no critical appraisal of the reviewed scientific opinions was carried out. (C) 2021 European Food Safety Authority. EFSA Journal published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd on behalf of European Food Safety Authority.

Automated summary

The European Food Safety Authority was asked by the European Commission to provide an overview of the risk assessment of plants developed through new genomic techniques (NGTs), considering previous opinions and ongoing work on the topic. The report included scientific opinions from European member states and EFSA GMO Panel, summarizing information on the description of each NGT and the risk assessment of plants developed through NGTs. No new opinions were developed on specific NGTs and no critical appraisal of the reviewed scientific opinions was carried out.