Codex Agrees to U.S. Government Proposal to Develop a Food Safety Risk
Assessment Process on Low-Level Presence of rDNA Material
WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Biotechnology Industry Organization
President and CEO Jim Greenwood today issued the following statement on the
adoption by the Codex Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on Food Derived
from Biotechnology, in Chiba, Japan, of a U.S. government proposal to
develop a food safety risk assessment process for adventitious presence:
"Today, the Codex Alimentarius Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on
Food Derived from Biotechnology agreed to accept the U.S. government's
proposal on Low-Level Presence of Recombinant-DNA Material. The task force
has formed a working group, which will be chaired by the United States,
Germany and Thailand, to draft an annex to the Codex Plant Guideline
addressing the elements of a safety assessment for low-level presence of
rDNA material in food, and identifying information-sharing mechanisms to
facilitate utilization of the Annex and the data necessary to conduct an
assessment of food safety by an importing country. BIO and its members
applaud the Codex's commitment to ensuring food safety for consumers,
farmers, food processors, and grain handlers. BIO also thanks the U.S.
government for successfully advocating adoption of this project by the
Codex.
"Over the last several years, BIO and its members have continually
urged Codex to implement a science-based policy that governs incidental or
trace amounts -- or so-called 'adventitious presence' -- of
biotechnology-enhanced events in food and feed. This intergovernmental task
force's safety assessment will complement the policies on adventitious
presence adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection agency in September
2006 and by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in June 2006.
"The EPA and FDA food safety evaluations recognize that adventitious
presence is a safe and natural part of plant biology, seed production, and
the distribution of commodity crops. They have served as a crucial step
toward development of comprehensive international science-based systems
that regulate modern agricultural products. This is especially important in
today's global trading arena as more than 8.5 million farmers are growing
biotech crops in 21 countries."
BIO represents more than 1,100 biotechnology companies, academic
institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across
the United States and 31 other nations. BIO members are involved in the
research and development of healthcare, agricultural, industrial and
environmental biotechnology products.
SOURCE Biotechnology Industry Organization
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Related links:
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CONTACT:
Paul Winters of Biotechnology Industry
Organization, +1-202-962-9237
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