Public consultation on the GMO and environmental risk assessment of GM insects

EFSA’s GMO Panel has launched an open consultation on its draft scientific opinion on the evaluation of existing EFSA guidelines for their adequacy for the molecular characterisation and environmental risk assessment of genetically modified insects with synthetically engineered gene drives.

In line with the mandate of the European Commission, this opinion assesses, through a problem formulation exercise, whether:

(1) the deliberate release of gene drive modified insects could pose potential new hazards and risks to human/animal health and the environment, considering relevant comparators;

(2) the scientific considerations/requirements given in its previously published guidelines for the risk assessment of genetically modified animals (EFSA, 2012 and 2013) are adequate for the molecular characterisation and environmental risk assessment of gene drive modified insects; and

(3) there is a need for updated guidance in relation to previous documents (EFSA, 2012 and 2013).

Submit Commets

Please use the electronic template provided [https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/GeneDrive_PublicConsultation] to submit comments and refer to the line and page numbers. Kindly note that after 2 hours of non-activity your working session will expire and comments submitted after that time will not be recorded and transmitted. Therefore, if the page is left inactive for more than 2 hours, please re-open it from the link before restarting to comment. If you would like to submit additional data to support your comments or file, send an email to: GMO.PublicConsul.EUS.001@efsa.europa.eu .

Dead line

Interested parties are invited to submit written comments by 17 April 2020

More information

Call for Consultation