Consideration of familiarity accumulated in the confined field trials for environmental risk assessment of genetically modified soybean (Glycine max) in Japan

To date, there have been 160 regulatory approvals for environmental safety in Japan for the major genetically modified (GM) crops, including corn, soybean, canola and cotton. Confined field trials (CFTs) have been conducted in Japan for all single events, which contain various traits. The accumulated information from these previously conducted CFTs, as well as the agronomic field study data from other countries, provides a rich source of information to establish “familiarity” with the crops. This familiarity can be defined as the knowledge gained through experience over time, and used to inform the environmental risk assessments (ERA) of new GM crops in Japan. In this paper, we compiled agronomic data from the CFTs performed in Japan for 11 GM soybean events which obtained food, feed and environmental safety approvals from regulatory agencies in Japan. These CFTs were conducted by multiple developers according to Japan regulations to support the ERA of these GM soybean, covering standard measurement endpoints evaluated across developers in Japan. With this dataset, we demonstrate how familiarity gained from the CFTs of GM soybeans in Japan can be used to inform on the ERA of new GM soybean events. By leveraging this concept of familiarity, we discuss potential enhancements to the ERA process for GM soybean events in Japan. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s11248-020-00193-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.