The ability to produce transgenic plants in the laboratory has expanded significantly since 1983, the date of the first successful production of a model transgenic plant. Transgenic plants have been produced for many food and feed plants, e.g., alfalfa, canola, potato, rice, soybean and tomato, and within the next few years are expected for most food and feed plants. Substantial scientific discussion has occurred with respect to the agricultural and environmental risks of field introduction of genetically-engineered plants for research and commercial production. The purpose of this workshop is to examine scientific issues in the regulation of genetically-engineered plants used for human food and animal feed, especially that class of near-term applications involving genetically-engineered plants in which small (single or a few) well-characterized gene changes have been made to introduce new proteins. The goals of the workshop are: (1) to reach a consensus on what can be reasonably concluded about food safety and risk, given the current state of knowledge; (2) to identify what needs to be known about the specific applications so that credible regulatory decisions can be made; and (3) to develop recommendations on how research need can be fulfilled.
