The 7th APEC Workshop on Agricultural Biotechnology
1-9 December 2003, Beijing, China

SESSION B

APEC TRAINING WORKSHOP ON BioSafety

INTRODUCTION AND SCOPE

Session B, to be held on 7-9 December 2003, will consist of two concurrent technical sessions designed primarily for product regulators: Environmental Safety Assessments, and Feed Safety Assessments.  These will be organized by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the Chinese Centre for Biosafety Research (CBSR-CAAS).   The primary focus of Session B will be on how to conduct environmental and animal feed safety assessments of products of biotechnology.

The Biosafety Workshops are designed to facilitate capacity building (through information exchange and increasing technical capacity) among APEC member economies.

ATTENDANCE

Delegates attending Sessions A are welcome to stay over to attend Session B.  Other participants, who do not attend the first session, could also attend the biosafety assessment workshops in Session B if identified by their member economy to participate.  Session B is expected to attract participants who are involved in environmental or feed safety assessments within their respective economies.

SESSION B FORMAT

A common plenary session will be held on Sunday afternoon, 7 December 2003 and Monday 8 December , to discuss matters common to both environmental and animal feed Safety Assessments.  Participants attending Session B will be divided into two groups for the remaining time, one studying Environmental Safety Assessments, the other, Animal Feed Safety Assessment. Thus participants must select either Environmental Safety Assessment or Feed Safety Assessment, not both on their registration forms. 

The Environmental Safety Assessment session will include the following topics: Federal Regulatory Framework; Legislative Authorities; Plants with Novel Traits; Confined Release - Field trials (terms and conditions and assessment criteria); Evaluation of a Plant with a Novel Trait for Unconfined Environmental Release; Harmonization of Regulatory Activity; and an Open Discussion on Other Issues. This session will include the use of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s Regulatory Directive entitled Assessment Criteria for Determining Environmental Safety of Plants with Novel Traits and will focus on a discussion of an actual case study.

The Feed Safety Assessment session will include the following: Federal Regulatory Framework; Legislative Authorities; Perspectives on Feed Safety Assessments; Harmonization and International Activities; Detailed Overview of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s Guidelines for the Safety Assessment of Novel Feeds, including consideration of issues related to product development, compositional characteristics, nutritional quality, potential for toxicants/anti-nutrients, and potential allergenicity of new proteins introduced into a feed; and substantial equivalence.  This session will also include the use of a case study to illustrate the sections of the assessment process and safety assessment criteria as established in the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s Guidelines for the Safety Assessment of Novel Feeds.