To date, a novel generation of genetically modified (GM) plants is under development and at a pre-market stage. These GM plants are plants, which express pharmaceutical, nutraceutical or industrial compounds, have an increased tolerance to abiotic stress, like drought, or have new metabolic pathways, resulting for example in the production of non-native fatty acids. The nature of the genetic modifications of these novel GM plants clearly differs from that of current generations of GM plants with resistance(s) to a herbicide and/or insects, as they are genetically more complex and/or lead to significant metabolic shifts. As a result, the likelihood that these genetic modifications lead to unintended effects on the plant’s genotype and/or phenotype could be higher for these novel generation GM plants than for current generations of GM plants. It can therefore be anticipated that their environmental risk assessment will need to address more uncertainties about their potential environmental effects.

Within a couple of years such novel GM plants will be submitted for EU market-approval. This will require an environmental risk assessment by the competent authorities of EU Member States, including the Netherlands. As the GMO Office, the executive office of the  Dutch competent authority, foresees that the environmental risk assessment of such novel GM plants needs to take into account uncertainties of their genotype and phenotype, it selected two examples of novel GM plants that are currently in the mainstream of research and development efforts, in order to study whether their environmental risk assessment involves novel aspects compared to that of current generations of GM plants. These two novel GM plants are drought tolerant GM maize and omega-3 fatty acid GM soybean, both which are already being field-tested in the US.

In commission of the GMO Office Schenkelaars Biotechnology Consultancy has investigated which novel aspects have to be taken into account in the risk assessment of these two GM crops.