Background Paper
SUMMARY OF CODEX ALIMENTARIUS ISSUES
IV. FIRST MEETING OF THE WORKING GROUP OF THE CODEX AD HOC
TASK FORCE ON FOODS DERIVED FROM BIOTECHNOLOGY
July 5 – 7, 2000
The Codex Ad Hoc Task Force on Foods Derived from Biotechnology
agreed in its first session to form a Working Group to develop papers
on: (1) a set of principles relating to the safety of foods derived
from biotechnology, and (2) guidelines for the safety assessment
of foods derived from biotechnology. The first meeting of this Working
Group was held in Tokyo, Japan, on July 5-7, 2000. The agenda included
discussions of the two papers prepared by Japan on the above topics,
as well as the draft document prepared by France on “traceability
of GMOs.”
1. Proposed Draft General Principles for the Risk Analysis
of Foods Derived from Modern Biotechnology
The Meeting discussed the “Proposed Draft Working Principles
for the Risk Analysis of Foods derived from Modern Biotechnology”
section by section, moving forward only after consensus was reached
for each section. The final revised text, which reflects consensus
in almost all issues except "traceability," was agreed
upon and published in the Codex website.
2. Proposed Draft Guidelines for the Conduct of Safety
Assessment of Foods Derived from Recombinant-DNA Plants
The Working Group felt that this paper was a good starting point
for discussion but that more work is needed to ensure that the issues
are clearly explained. It was agreed that comments on the draft
would be collected and incorporated by the Japanese delegation into
a revised draft for discussion in the next meeting of the Working
Group.
3. Draft Discussion Paper on the Traceability of GMOs
The delegate from France prepared the paper in response to the
request of the Task Force on Biotechnology. The delegate emphasized
the need to link traceability to the risk analysis process for GMOs.
It was explained that the paper is an initial attempt to shed some
light on the concept of traceability as related to GMOs and that
based on comments during this meeting, will be revised for discussion
in the next session. The French delegate stressed that as proposed,
the implementation of traceability of GMOs is mainly through documentation
prepared by the operators and not through analytical procedures.
The Working Group concluded that the delegation from France should
revise the document on traceability for discussion in the next meeting.
It was also noted that the paper should be linked to the paper on
Working Principles and should not stand on its own.
4. Next Meeting
Tentatively 2-3 days either the week of October 23 or October
30, 2000, Tokyo.
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