November 2010: The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has released Volumes 3 and 4 of a compilation of consensus documents titled: “Safety Assessments of Transgenic Organisms.”

OECD consensus documents are a tool to identify elements of scientific information used in the environmental safety and risk assessment of transgenic organisms common to OECD member countries and some non-members associated with the biosafety work. The release is intended to encourage information sharing, promote harmonised practices, and prevent duplication of effort among countries.

Volumes 3 and 4 contain documents issued between 2006 and 2010 for easy access by applicants for commercial uses of transgenic organisms (crops, trees, microorganisms), to regulators and risk assessors in national authorities, as well as the wider scientific community. Volume 3 addresses: the biology of numerous tree species; safety information on BT transgenic plants; and harmonization with regard to the designation of unique identifiers and molecular characterization of plants derived from modern biotechnology. Volume 4 addresses the biology of cotton, bananas and plantains, as well as: use of taxonomy in risk assessment of micro-organisms; methods for detection of micro-organisms introduced into the environment; and horizontal gene transfer between bacteria. [OECD Media Release]