risk assessment

Webinar on hot button issues at CBD SBSTTA meetings in Nairobi Synthetic biology, artifical intelligence, risk assessment of gene drives

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Invitation

Webinar on hot button issues at CBD SBSTTA meetings in Nairobi: Synthetic biology, artifical intelligence, risk assessment of gene drives

Date:               Wednesday 4th September 2024 at 15:00 CEST
Presenters:     Ricarda Steinbrecher and Angelika Hilbeck – ENSSER Board members
Registration:   https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-lSMU7n-SEKB4LTvclr0Kw

In May this year, Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) met in Nairobi for their 26th meeting of the SBSTTA (Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice) from 13-18 May and following that, the 4th SBI (Subsidiary Body on Implementation of the Convention) from 21-29 May. ENSSER board members Ricarda Steinbrecher and Angelika Hilbeck participated in both meetings and will report in this webinar about the most disputed issues of the SBSTTA negotiations.

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Predicted multispecies unintended effects from outdoor genome editing

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By Aline Martins Hoepers, Jack A. Heinemann, Caroline Bedin Zanatta, Philomena Chu, Tessa C. Hiscox, Sarah Zanon Agapito-Tenfen Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety Volume 282, 1 September 2024, 116707 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2024.116707 Abstract CRISPR/Cas9, a potent genetic engineering tool widely adopted in agriculture, is capable of introducing new characteristics into plants on a large scale and without conventional … Read more

INVITATION to conference: Context, Causality and Consequences: from robust evidence to timely action in biology, ecology, law and public policy

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“Context, Causality and Consequences: from robust evidence to timely action in biology, ecology, law and public policy”   A public conference Friday 26 and Saturday 27 November 2021 Registration online: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_X9hhCNv9QLCFACw8-QiGGA Registration onsite: Please contact us at to see if onsite participation is still available   Organized by European Network of Scientists for Social … Read more

Facing the 2020 pandemic: What does cyberbiosecurity want us to know to safeguard the future?

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by Siguna Müller published in Elsevier’s Biosecurity and Health: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bsheal.2020.09.007   Abstract As the entire world is under the grip of the coronavirus diseases 2019 (COVID-19), and as many are eagerly trying to explain the origins of the virus and cause of the pandemic, it is imperative to place more attention on related potential biosafety … Read more

Why did EFSA not reduce its ADI for aspartame or recommend its use should no longer be permitted?

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by Erik Paul Millstone and Elisabeth Dawson published in Archives of Public Health: https://archpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13690-020-00489-w Abstract On behalf of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Kass and Lodi recently published a letter purporting to ‘refute’ our July 2019 analysis of EFSA’s December 2013 assessment of the risks of aspartame. We had previously claimed inter alia that … Read more

Getting EU risk assessment for protecting environment and health to achieve its legal objectives. Escaping reductionist fallacies

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A series of three webinars organised by the European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility (ENSSER) Thursdays 17 and 24 September and 1 October 2020 16:00 – 17:30 Central European Summer Time   European regulatory systems are often portrayed as some of the best in the world in terms of stringency and precaution … Read more

Broadening the GMO risk assessment in the EU for genome editing technologies in agriculture

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By Katharina Kawall, Janet Cotter & Christoph Then Environmental Sciences Europe volume 32, Article number: 106 (2020)   Abstract Genome editing techniques, especially the CRISPR/Cas technology, increase the possibilities and the speed of altering genetic material in organisms. So-called genome editing is increasingly being used to achieve agriculturally relevant novel traits and/or genetic combinations in … Read more

GMO regulations and their interpretation: how EFSA’s guidance on risk assessments of GMOs is bound to fail

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The article “GMO regulations and their interpretation: how EFSA’s guidance on risk assessments of GMOs is bound to fail” by Angelika Hilbeck, Hartmut Meyer, Brian Wynne & Erik Millstone, published in Environmental Sciences Europe volume 32, Article number: 54 (2020) may be viewed here https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12302-020-00325-6 and downloaded here https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s12302-020-00325-6.pdf

Risk assessment of genetically engineered plants that can persist and propagate in the environment

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Risk assessment of genetically engineered plants that can persist and propagate in the environment. By Andreas Bauer-Panskus, Katharina Kawall, Juliana Miyazaki, Christoph Then AND: Rendering of the sustainable pulse. 

Insufficient risk assessment of herbicide-tolerant genetically engineered soybeans intended for import into the EU

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By: Juliana Miyazaki, Andreas Bauer-Panskus, Thomas Bøhn, Wolfram Reichenbecher & Christoph Then Published: Environmental Sciences Europe volume 31, Article number: 92 (2019) DOI https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-019-0274-1   Abstract The introduction of herbicide-tolerant (HT) genetically engineered (GE) soybeans has raised new challenges for the European risk assessment of imported food and feed. Food and feed products derived from … Read more

Paper: EFSA’s toxicological assessment of aspartame: was it even-handedly trying to identify possible unreliable positives and unreliable negatives?

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A new paper of Erik Millstone et al. has been published in Archives of Public Health. A copy of the paper is attached below, along with copies of two appendices.   A dossier of supporting documentation is available. The paper and appendices are available on the Archives of Public Health’s website. The paper dismantles the most recent … Read more

Report on ENSSER side events at 14th Conference of the Parties (COP14) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and 9th Conference of the Parties serving as Meeting of the Parties (COPMOP9) to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CPB)

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Side events at 14th Conference of the Parties (COP14) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and 9th Conference of the Parties serving as Meeting of the Parties (COPMOP9) to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CPB) 18 – 21 November 2018, Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt Sponsored by Software AG, gen-ethische Stiftung, and GLS Treuhand Zukunftsstiftung Landwirtschaft … Read more

Report – Gene-edited organisms in agriculture: risks and unexpected consequences

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In recent years, there has been much discussion of how gene editing techniques, such as CRISPR, can broaden the scope of genetic engineering in agriculture. However, it’s becoming clear that gene editing techniques are error prone. This new report from Friends of the Earth U.S., cowritten by ENSSER member Janet Cotter, compiles the growing evidence … Read more

Conference “Science in the Eye of the Storm”, Berlin, September 10-11 2014

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 PROGRAM and DOCUMENTATION – please find below the final program of the conference including speakers’ presentations – Opening of conference and setting the stage Speaker: Angelika Hilbeck (ENSSER / ETH Zurich, Switzerland) Plenary symposium I Development towards sustainability – local, regional, global Chairs: Michael Dittmar (ETH Zurich / conCERNed for Humanity club at CERN, Switzerland); … Read more

Conference Documentation Published: Advancing the Understanding of Biosafety GMO Risk Assessment, Independent Biosafety Research and Holistic Analysis

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Advancing the Understanding of Biosafety GMO Risk Assessment, Independent Biosafety Research and Holistic Analysis   This conference took place in the wake of the 6th meeting of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (MOP-6)  2012.  View the full documenation of the conference View the program including the ppt-presentations  

Advancing the Understanding of Biosafety GMO Risk Assessment, Independent Biosafety Research and Holistic Analysis

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This conference took place in the wake of the 6th meeting of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (MOP-6) from 01-05 Oct 2012. ENSSER was represented at the MOP-6 convening 2 side events.   Advancing the Understanding of Biosafety GMO Risk Assessment, Independent Biosafety Research and Holistic Analysis Co-organisers: ENSSER; Tara Foundation (TF); Third World Network … Read more

Congress on Risks for Public Health & the Environment

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Time for Convergence in European Technology Assessment and Risk Assessment May 16-18, 2012 – Madrid/Spain – Complutense University Co-organisers: ENSSER, EEA, Fundación Vivosano/Health Defense Organisation, Cátedra Universidad-Empresa-Sindicato: Trabajo, Ambiente y Salud   May 16 (13:30) – Opening Prof. Emilio Mínguez Torres, Vice-Rector, Technical University of Madrid, Spain Prof. Antonio Notario Gómez, Director, School of Forestry … Read more

How much insecticide do Bt plants actually produce? New publication shows inadequacies in risk assessment

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PR 02/11  How much insecticide do Bt plants actually produce? New publication shows inadequacies in risk assessment Munich 21 November 2011. A new publication by an international research consortium has revealed several inadequacies in current approaches to risk assessment of genetically engineered plants. The publication deals with methods used for measurement in socalled Btplants. These … Read more

ENSSER Comments on the EFSA Draft Guidance on the Risk Assessment of Food and Feed from Genetically Modified Animals

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 30 Sep 2011 – The current “Draft Guidance on the risk assessment of food and feed from genetically modified animals including animal health and welfare aspects published by EFSA on August 10, 2011 is based on risk assessment concepts that do not take into account generally accepted features of risk assessment as undertaking problem formulation, … Read more