Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Oda, Leila M
• Soares, Bernardo E.C

Titel

Genetically modified foods: economic aspects and public acceptance in Brazil

Ist Teil von

• Trends in biotechnology (Regular ed.), 2000-05, Vol.18 (5), p.188-190

Ort / Verlag

England: Elsevier Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2000

Quelle

Elsevier ScienceDirect Journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Since the 1970s, many countries have set up official regulations in order to control the application of biotechnology; in particular, they have addressed the safety aspects for man, animals and the environment. The European Union Directives 219/90 and 220/90 are a set of guidelines for the release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into the environment. By contrast, the USA (the largest exporter of genetically modified crops) regulatory agencies consider new genetic modification techniques as an extension of other biotechnological processes, that is, new products developed through this technique are subject to the same safety assessment procedures. Field trials with GMOs are regulated in the USA by three governmental agencies concerned with agriculture, health and the environment because there is no specific regulation for the control of recombinant nucleic acid technology. The regulations regarding human health and the environment included in European Union Directive 220/90 and those set up by the American agricultural agency consider similar criteria. However, the European regulatory framework for the risk assessment of environmental release demands information and requirements to be met by the applicant; this is in contrast to the North American countries, in which the government uses the information supplied by the application, which it regards as correct, to assess the potential risk of the product. In Brazil, Law 8974 of January 1995 and Decree 1752/95 established the National Technical Biosafety Committee (CTNBio), the governmental agency responsible for regulations in the field of genetic engineering, and produced guidelines for the contained use and environmental release of GMOs (http://www.mct.gov.br/ctnbiotec/default.htm). Consequently, the Brazilian regulatory framework is similar to the European model because it considers the control of recombinant nucleic acid technology distinctively from other technological processes. However, with regard to inspection and evaluation procedures, Brazil follows the American model, in which each authorization is followed by a local critical examination in order to ensure that the main risk assessment measures presented by the applicant have been conducted correctly.