European Food Safety Authority's issues genetically modified feed trial guidance

The use of animal feeding trials to assess the safety of genetically modified crops should only be required when there are indications of significant differences between the crop and its conventional counterpart, says the European Food Safety Authority's (EFSA) GMO panel. In a new report, the panel concludes that an animal feeding trial "adds little if anything" to the overall safety assessment of the current generation of herbicide-tolerant and insect-resistant GM crops. However, such trials should be considered for the next generation of GM crops that will carry more complex modifications for stress-tolerance or nutritional value, the panel notes.

The EFSA held consultations last year on the use of animal feeding trials to assess GM food and feed. The GMO panel's report was published in the journal, Food and Chemical Toxicology, this month. The panel supports present EFSA policy, requiring a 90-day animal feeding trial study on a case-by-case basis, despite calls from some EU member states for such trials to be used in all cases. However, the panel recommends a more uniform approach to the design and analysis of animal feeding trials.

Elsewhere, the panel points out that current animal tests are not suited for identifying potential allergenicity of GM food and calls for further development of test models for this issue. It also stresses that post-market monitoring "is not a substitute for thorough pre-marketing risk assessment, neither should it be considered as a routine need". Such monitoring is a later step that may additionally inform risk management, the panel says. The report is on the EFSA website at: http://www.efsa.europa.eu/EFSA/DocumentSet/ gmo-report-feedingtrials.pdf.