Environmental Risk Assessment of Genetically Modified Crops Workshop

Overview: The Agriculture & Food Systems Institute’s Center for Environmental Risk Assessment, ILSI Brasil and Embrapa convened their third annual workshop on environmental risk assessment (ERA) of genetically modified (GM) crops in Brasilia from August 16‐17, 2010. Based on suggestions from participants at the 2009 ERA event, the Organizing Committee structured the 2010 workshop around emerging topics of interest to agricultural biotechnology regulators, risk assessors and other scientists.

Program: The theme of the workshop was “New Challenges for ERA of GM Plants: Are New Approaches Necessary?” The workshop featured sessions on:

• ERA of transgenic feedstocks for biofuels
• ERA of plants with novel traits expressed through RNA interference (RNAi) mechanisms
• ERA of transgenic, abiotic stress tolerant plants