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USA
Under the Coordinated Framework for Regulation of Biotechnology three federal agencies i.e. USDA-APHIS, EPA and FDA regulates GMOs under existing policies in a product based approach.
USDA-APHIS, United States Department of Agriculture-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
USDA-APHIS protects the health and value of American agriculture and natural resources by regulating GMOs that has been developed by or contain plant pest components.
USEPA, United States Environmental Protection Agency
USEPA protects the environment by regulating new pesticidal substances if produced by any GMOs.
USFDA, United StatesFood and Drug Administration
USFDA regulates the safety of food for humans and animals by imposing clear legal duty to market safe foods to consumers, regardless of the process by which such foods are created.
Canada
CFIA and Health Canada regulates environmental, food and feed safety of plants with novel traits that are developed though different technologies like biotechnology, mutagenesis, or conventional breeding techniques.
CFIA, Canadian Food Inspection Agency
CFIA monitors import, efficacy, environmental safety, livestock feed safety, non-safety related product labelling, i.e. voluntary labelling and consumer fraud issues.
Health Canada is responsible for public health safety, food safety and nutritional assessment, food labelling, pre-market evaluations and notification.
Argentina
CONABIA, National Advisory Commission on Agricultural Biotechnology
CONABIA looks into environmental safety of GMOs
SENAS, National Service for Agri food Health and Quality
Technical Advisory Committee on GMO use (CTA-UOGM) of the SENAS under Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries ensures safety of GM food and feed.
Australia
OGTR, Office of the Gene Technology Regulator
OGTR, an independent statutory office established within the Australian Government Department of Health is responsible to administer nationally consistent legislative scheme for gene technology. OGTR looks into the environmental safety of products derived from gene technology in step of research, manufacture, production, field test, commercial release and import.
FSANZ, Food Standards Australia New Zealand
FSANZ, a bi-national independent statutory authority operating under the Food Standards Australia New Zealand Act 1991, develop food standards and prescribe safety measures for public health and consumer protection for consumption of GM foods and/or ingredients.
European Union
EFSA, European Food Safety Authority
EFSA operates under European Commission (executive body of EU) to regulate GMOs and ensure safety of human and animal health and the environment. EFSA conduct highly consultative safety assessment process prerequisite for authorization of GMO for cultivation and food and feed use.
Brazil
CTNBio, Brazilian technical commission for biosafety
CTNBio provides technical support and advice to the Federal Government in the formulation, updating and implementation of the National Biosafety relating to GMOs. It establishes safety norms regarding the authorization of research related activities and the commercial use and performs scientific safety assessment to ensure protection of human health, living organisms and the environment for activities involving the construction, testing, cultivation, handling, transport, marketing, consumption, storage, release and disposal GMO and derivatives.
Japan
Different agencies operate in harmony for regulating GMOs in Japan.
MAFF, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries
MAFF regulate and ensures animal feed safety (under Feed Safety Law) and environmental safety from GM crop (under regulation of the use of genetically modified organism).
MHLW, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
MHLW develops safety evaluation standards and production standards of new GMOs to be used for food or food additives and also establish a detection method for GE products in food.
FSC is an independent risk assessment body working directly under the Cabinet Office, performs the scientific food and feed safety assessment under influence of Food Safety Basic law.
New Zealand
Environmental Protection Agency
EPA under Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act covers applications related to import, development, field test or release of GMOs into the environment and performs stringent risk assessment according to minimum standards (to protect environment and addresses human health safety issues.
GM food safety issues are addressed by FSANZ.
South Africa
DAFF, Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries: Directorate Genetic Resource
DAFF primarily regulates GMOs in step of research, development, production, import, export, transport and environmental use.
SANBI, South African National Biodiversity Institute
SANBI monitor and report on the environmental impacts of GMOs released into the environment in South Africa with power conferred by Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA).
DoH controls the sale, manufacture and importation of GM foodstuffs and mandatory labelling to ensure safety and quality of foodstuffs including GM foods.
Related International resources
Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CPB)
The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity is an international agreement which aims to ensure the safe handling, transport and use of living modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from modern biotechnology that may have adverse effects on biological diversity, taking also into account risks to human health. It was adopted on 29 January 2000 and entered into force on 11 September 2003. India is a party to the CPB since 2003.
The Biosafety Clearing-House (BCH) is a mechanism set up by the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to facilitate the exchange of information on Living Modified Organisms (LMOs) and assist the Parties to better comply with their obligations under the Protocol. Global access to a variety of scientific, technical, environmental, legal and capacity building information is provided in the six official languages of the UN.
The Biosafety Information Resource Centre (BIRC), a sub section of BCH contains electronic catalogues of biosafety related publications and information resources for policymakers, educators, researchers and the genral public.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is a global organization that works with Governments for knowledge exchange and to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.
OECD has created BioTrack Online website to provide information on environmental, food and feed safety issues relating to modern biotechnology. In addition, the website has maintained database on modern biotechnology including information on field trials.
FAO GM Foods Platform
FAO is an intergovernmental organization comprising 194 Member Nations, two associate members and one member organization, the European Union. The mandate of FAO is to achieve food security for all through the eradication of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition; the elimination of poverty and the driving forward of economic and social progress for all; and, the sustainable management and utilization of natural resources, including land, water, air, climate and genetic resources for the benefit of present and future generations.
In connection of this, FAO has developed the GM food platform to share information on safety assessment of GM foods.
World Health Organization (WHO)
WHO has been addressing a wide range of issues in the field of biotechnology and human health, including safety evaluation of vaccines produced using biotechnology, human cloning, and gene therapy. This site briefly describes the activities of WHO in regard to biotechnology and food safety.
Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC)
The Codex Alimentarius, or "Food Code" is a collection of standards, guidelines and codes of practice adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission. The Commission, also known as CAC, is the central part of the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme and was established in 1963 by FAO and WHO to protect consumer health and promote fair practices in food. The Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on Foods derived from Biotechnology that was convened in 2000 with the objective to develop standards and guidelines for GM foods summarized their work in two documents namely Principles for the risk analysis of foods derived from modern biotechnology and Guideline for the conduct of food safety assessment of foods derived from recombinant-DNA plants.
AgBioWorld has been developed by The AgBioWorld Foundation headquartered in Auburn, Alabama. The site aims to provide science-based information on agricultural biotechnology issues to various stakeholders across the world. Its website and e-mail service are a daily source of information for thousands of subscribers from dozens of countries. The AgBioWorld 'Declaration in Support of Agricultural Biotechnology' has been endorsed by over 3,400 scientists, including 25 Nobel Laureates such as Dr. Norman Borlaug, Dr. James Watson, Dr. Arthur Kornberg, Dr. Marshall Nirenberg, Dr. Peter Doherty, Dr. Paul Berg, Mr. Oscar Arias Sanchez and Dr. John Boyer.
AgBioWorld's free electronic newsletter, AgBioView, is a "must read" source of news, research updates and commentary for anyone interested in the latest on advances in plant science, agricultural research and sustainable food production.
International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI), India
ILSI is a nonprofit, worldwide organization whose mission is to provide science that improves human health and well-being and safeguards the environment. As part of its activity, ILSI works towards understanding of use of modern biotechnology in relating to nutrition, food safety, toxicology, risk assessment, and the environment.
Centre for Environmental Risk Assessment (CERA)
CERA was established by the ILSI Research Foundation in 2009 andis dedicated to developing and applying sound science to the environmental risk assessment of agricultural biotechnologies so their contributions to the sustainable production of food, fuel and fiber may be safely realized.
International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB)
The role of ICGEB's Biosafety Group is to disseminate as widely as possible significant information related to biosafety issues raised through the use of products derived from modern biotechnology, as well as to assist our Member States in their capacity to identify, regulate, manage and monitor those products within their own Countries.
International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA)
ISAAA is a not-for-profit international organization that shares the benefits of crop biotechnology to various stakeholders, particularly resource-poor farmers in developing countries, through knowledge sharing initiatives and the transfer and delivery of proprietary biotechnology applications.
