Research and analysis

Genetically modified organisms: improving risk assessments

This report from the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment suggests improvements to the current EU regulatory system.

• From: Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment
• Published: 27 August 2013

Documents

Towards a more effective approach to environmental risk assessment of GM crops under current EU legislation

PDF, 468 KB, 23 pages

This file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology.

Request an accessible format.

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email defra.helpline@defra.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Details

This report from the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE) examines how the current system could be more effective when considering applications to grow genetically modified (GM) crops or release GM products.

ACRE’s 2 previous reports on the EU regulations surrounding genetically modified organisms recommended that a new framework is needed. However, in the short term, improvements could still be made to the current framework.

The final report concludes that within the current framework there is potential to improve by:

• developing better understanding of what is meant by ‘environmental damage’
• using defined ‘hypotheses of risk’
• seeking options for environmental risk management as part of environmental risk assessment
• making better use of existing information

Published 27 August 2013