Strategies to enable the adoption of animal biotechnology to sustainably improve global food safety and security

Author(s)
Tizard, Mark
Hallerman, Eric
Fahrenkrug, Scott
Newell-McGloughlin, Martina
Gibson, John
de Loos, Frans
Wagner, Stefan
Laible, Götz
Han, Jae Yong
D'Occhio, Michael
Kelly, Lisa
Lowenthal, John
Gobius, Kari
Silva, Primal
Cooper, Caitlin
Doran, Tim
Publication Date
2016-10
Abstract
The ability to generate transgenic animals has existed for over 30 years, and from those early days many predicted that the technology would have beneficial applications in agriculture. Numerous transgenic agricultural animals now exist, however to date only one product from a transgenic animal has been approved for the food chain, due in part to cumbersome regulations. Recently, new techniques such as precision breeding have emerged, which enables the introduction of desired traits without the use of transgenes. The rapidly growing human population, environmental degradation, and concerns related to zoonotic and pandemic diseases have increased pressure on the animal agriculture sector to provide a safe, secure and sustainable food supply. There is a clear need to adopt transgenic technologies as well as new methods such as gene editing and precision breeding to meet these challenges and the rising demand for animal products. To achieve this goal, cooperation, education, and communication between multiple stakeholders - including scientists, industry, farmers, governments, trade organizations, NGOs and the public - is necessary. This report is the culmination of concepts first discussed at an OECD sponsored conference and aims to identify the main barriers to the adoption of animal biotechnology, tactics for navigating those barriers, strategies to improve public perception and trust, as well as industry engagement, and actions for governments and trade organizations including the OECD to harmonize regulations and trade agreements. Specifically, the report focuses on animal biotechnologies that are intended to improve breeding and genetics and currently are not routinely used in commercial animal agriculture. We put forward recommendations on how scientists, regulators, and trade organizations can work together to ensure that the potential benefits of animal biotechnology can be realized to meet the future needs of agriculture to feed the world.
Citation
Transgenic Research, 25(5), p. 575-595
ISSN
1573-9368
0962-8819
Pubmed ID
27246007
Link
Language
en
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Title
Strategies to enable the adoption of animal biotechnology to sustainably improve global food safety and security
Type of document
Review
Entity Type
Publication

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