28-29 June 2018OECD, Paris

 

The OECD Conference on Genome Editing: Applications in Agriculture – Implications for Health, Environment and Regulation explored the safety and regulatory considerations raised by genome edited products, with the aim to favour a coherent policy approach to facilitate innovation involving genome editing and will bring together policy makers, academia, innovators and other stakeholders involved in the topic.

The conference was organised across three themes:

• applications of genome editing in agriculture – including plant and animal breeding
• risk and safety considerations
• regulatory aspects
  
  

Genome editing – set of techniques in which specialised enzymes have been modified - can insert, replace or remove DNA from a genome with a high degree of specificity. Genome editing, and one of its most discussed techniques the CRISPR/Cas9 system, has received increasing attention in the academic press and the wider media. This advanced form of genetic engineering provides tools at relatively low cost for innovation in biomedicine, agriculture, industrial biotechnology and other sectors relating to the bioeconomy.

The rapidly growing use of genome editing has policy implications and human health and environmental safety considerations.

• The full proceedings of the conference “Genome Editing: Applications in Agriculture – Implications for Health, Environment and Regulation”, with papers prepared subsequently by each of the speakers, has been published online at: Transgenic Research, Volume 28, Issue 2 Supplement; 
• The meeting report of the OECD conference on ‘‘Genome Editing: Applications in Agriculture—Implications for Health, Environment and Regulation’’ includes in-depth summaries of the presentations of each invited speaker given at the Conference.
• The Policy Considerations Regarding Genome Editing describes the applications of genome editing, its risk and safety considerations and regulatory aspects.

Programme

Speakers

Abstracts

DAY 1 -  Thursday 28 June 2018

Opening: Welcome Session

Objective	This session provided an overview of OECD activities related to the Co-operative Research Programme.
Speaker	Gary Fitt - Science, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation; Chair of the OECD CRP Scientific Advisory Body An overview of the OECD Co-operative Research Program: Biological Resource Management for Sustainable Agricultural Systems

Introductory Session

Objective

This session presented background information on genome editing techniques in the broader context.

Speakers

Fyodor Umov - Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences, United States. Our Genome-Edited Future: the Promise and the Challenge Peter Kearns, Environment, Health and Safety Division, OECD An overview of OECD activities related to modern techniques of biotechnology and genome editing Agnès Ricroch, Evolutionary Genetics and Plant Breeding, AgroParisTech; Pennsylvania State University Global developments of genome editing in agriculture Global developments of genome editing in agriculture

 
SESSION 1: Applications of genome editing in agriculture

Objective

This session highlighted case studies and examples of agricultural applications of genome editing, particularly plant varieties or animal breeds that may be on or close to the market or under research and development.

Speakers

Caixia Gao, State Key Laboratory of Plant Cell and Chromosome Engineering, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, People’s Republic of China Agricultural applications of genome editing: Crop plants Simon Lillico, The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, The University of Edinburgh Agricultural applications of genome editing: Farmed animals Sunghwa Choe, School of Biological Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University Crop plants: DNA-free genome editing with CRISPR enzymes Robert Meeley, Corteva Agriscience, DowDuPon Crop plants: Next-generation waxy corn Peter Rogowsky, ENS Lyon, French National Institute for Agricultural Research Crop plants with improved culture and quality traits Vladimir Nekrasov, Plant Sciences Department, Rothamsted Research, United Kingdom Genome editing as a tool for enhancing disease resistance in crops Petra Jorasch, European Seed Association; International Seed Federation The global need for plant breeding innovation Mark Tizard, Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Genome editing in farm animals: Poultry Alison Van Eenennaam, Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis Genome editing in Farm animal: Cattle Anna Troedsson-Wargelius, Molecular Biology Section, Institute for Marine Research, Norway Farm animals in aquatic systems

 

DAY 2 -  Friday 29 June 2018

SESSION 2: Risk and Safety considerations

Objective

This session explored any risk and safety considerations that may be associated with the application of genome editing techniques in agriculture. It highlighted the evolution and state of risk/safety assessment for the products of modern biotechnology, both for food/feed and environmental assessments. It also considered how genome editing techniques are applied and the nature and specificity of the genetic changes they create, including specificity of targeted changes and evidence about the nature of any off-target changes.

Speakers

Jeffrey Wolt, Biosafety Institute for Genetically Modified Agricultural Products, Iowa State University; Crop Bioengineering Center Current risk assessment approaches for environmental and food & feed safety Marie-Bérengère Troadec, Institute of Genetics and Development of Rennes, The National Centre for Scientific Research; Scientific Committee of the High Council for Biotechnology, France Considerations of unintended effects in genome editing applications

 
SESSION 3: Regulatory aspects

Objective

This session addressed the regulatory questions associated with genome editing applications in agriculture, with a view to discussing approaches to address them. A short introduction suggested key issues to be considered regarding the regulatory oversight of genome edited products. The following series of presentations considered policy frameworks in specific countries.

Speakers

Martin Lema, Biotechnology Directorate, Ministry of Agro-Industry; The National University of Quilmes Regulatory aspects in Argentina Peter Thygesen, Office of the Gene Technology Regulator and Lisa Kelly, Food Standards Australia New Zealand Regulatory aspects associated to genome editing in Australia - situation for GMOs Regulatory aspects associated to genome editing in Australia - situation for Food Christine Tibelius, Plant Health Science Division, Canadian Food Inspection Agency Regulatory aspects in Canada Chantal Bruetschy, Biotechnology Unit, Food and feed safety, innovation, DG SANTE, European Commission Regulatory aspects in the European Union Murali Krishna Chimata, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Regulatory aspects in India Sally McCammon, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Kathleen Jones, Center for Veterinary Medicine, U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Mike Mendelsohn, Biopesticides and Pollution Prevention Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Innovation and U.S. Regulation of the Products of Agricultural Biotechnology Ongoing FDA Activities Related to Agricultural Biotechnology Products in the U.S. Regulatory Aspects – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

• Gene editing in an international context: Scientific, economic and social issues across sectors, 2018
  This report summarises the discussions from the OECD workshop on “Gene editing in an international context: scientific, economic and social issues across sectors” held in Ottawa, Canada on 29-30 September 2016. Gene editing techniques represent a major advance in the field of biotechnological research and application, promising significant benefits across the domains of human health, sustainability and the economy. However, harnessing the potential of gene editing techniques will require meeting significant policy challenges in arenas of governance, ethics, and public engagement. 
  
  

• High-Throughput DNA Sequencing in the Safety Assessment of Genetically Engineered Plants: OECD Workshop Proceedings, 2016
  This report collates the summaries of the presentations delivered during the “OECD Workshop on High-throughput DNA Sequencing in the Safety Assessment of Genetically Engineered Plants”, held on 18 April 2016 in Paris, France. The workshop presented the principles of high-throughput DNA sequencing, and included topics such as the basics of the technique as applied to molecular characterisation and the bioinformatics necessary for compiling and interpreting the resulting data.
  
  
• Report of the OECD Workshop on Environmental Risk Assessment of products derived from New Plant Breeding Techniques, 2014
  The report describes the main outcomes of the "OECD Workshop on Environmental Risk Assessment of products derived from New Plant Breeding Techniques (NPBTs)". The workshop focused on environmental risk/safety assessment (ERA) of new plant breeding techniques (NPBTs). The main purposes were: (i) to improve the general understanding of these techniques and products derived through them; and (ii) to share experiences of, and perspectives on, the ERA of products derived through NPBTs.
  
  

OECD Biotechnology Updates This Newsletter compiles up-to-date information on OECD events and publications related to biotechnology. It aims to share information at three levels: 1) within the Organisation, 2) with delegates to OECD meetings already familiar with certain aspects of the work, and 3) with the wider biotech community through the public website. Information on new publications, as well as upcoming events and meetings, are given.

• List of Co-operative Research conferences
  Information about both conferences/workshops and fellowships funded since 2010 can be found, including reports from conference organisers and fellows and links to proceedings and/or published papers that came out of the conferences or fellowships. 
  
  

Workshop on innovations in food and agriculture system: Policies to foster productive and sustainable solutions  The workshop took place in Paris on 25-26 February 2016. Its central aim was to discuss with experts how scientific, technological, and farm practice innovation can improve productivity and sustainability in the food and agricultural sector, with a focus on international collaboration on gene editing techniques.   It was introduced in the form of a presentation entitled ‘The Age of Gene editing’, produced by Steffi Friedrichs which played a pivotal role during the expert discussions.

This event is held under the auspices of the OECD Global Forum on Biotechnology and is supported by:

• the OECD’s Co-operative Research Programme: Biological Resource Management for Sustainable Agricultural Systems
• the OECD Central Priority Fund
• the US Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA-FAS)
• Springer International Publishing

• For more information, please contact: [email protected]
• To receive our Biotechnology update, sign up to MyOECD.