ISTA GMO Task Force Objectives and Progress Enrico Noli

Chair: Dr. Enrico Noli IT Vice-chair: Mr. Alexander B. Ednie CA Members: Mr. Nigel Kilby FL Mrs. Berta Killermann DE Dr. Michael Kruse DE Dr. Bernard Le Buanec CH Prof. Dr. Norbert Leist DE Dr. Anja Matzk DE Mr. Richard C. Payne US Mr. Chris Sikolas GR Mr. Marc van den Bulcke BE Mr. David Zhang FR Dr. Eugenia BarrosZA Mrs. Sofia Ben Tahar FR Mr. Eric Gatignol FR Mr. Leopold Girsch AT Mr. Sylvain Grégoire FR Dr. Lutz Grohmann DE Mr. Tim Gutormson US Dr. Christoph HaldemannCH Mrs. Adelaida HarriesAR Mr. Benjamin Kaufman US The ISTA GMO Task Force

ISTA seed testing laboratories are competence centres for – varietal purity testing of GM varieties – detection, identification and quantification of GM seeds in conventional seed lots Uniformity in GMO seed testing results all over the world ISTA´s Vision

2. Organisation of Proficiency Tests PILOT ISTA GMO PROFICIENCY TEST AIMS to evaluate the performance of participating laboratories to collect data to be used to set performance standards to gain experience in the organisation of future tests

PILOT ISTA GMO PROFICIENCY TEST PRELIMINARY WORK Statistical work carried out by the STA-GMOTF (S. Gregoire, K. Remund and J.L. Laffont) Effect of reference material seed impurity influence Effect of false positive/negative rate on consumer and producer risk Number of samples to be tested by each lab for a sufficiently precise evaluation of its proficiency is quite high (several test rounds will be necessary)

PILOT ISTA GMO PROFICIENCY TEST TEST PROTOCOL Species: Zea mays Number of samples: 30 (some positive,some negatives) Seeds/sample: 300 Potentially present events: Bt176, Bt11, Mon810, T25 Type of result: qualitative No prescribed or suggested analytical procedure MATERIAL TRANSFER AGREEMENT (MTA)

PILOT ISTA GMO PROFICIENCY TEST PURITY TEST of the NON-GM SEED 30,000 seeds analysed 15 samples, 2000 seeds/sample 2 DNA extraction/sample Targets: - P-35S real time PCR (LOD=0.02%) (K. Haldemann) - T-NOS qualitative PCR (LOD=0.02%) (D. Zhang) Results: all samples tested negative The level of GMO adventitious presence < 0.01% (P 0,05) Test was organised and started on May 24 from the ISTA Secretariat (B.Kahlert, M. Kruse)

3. Platform for exchange of information “ISTA/FAO Workshop on Electrophoretic and PCR- based methods for varietal verification and GMO detection” Buenos Aires, 3-7 December participants from South America Theoretical part: basic elements on PCR, GMO detection methods Practical part: DNA extraction, control of DNA quality, qualitative PCR detection methods for GMOs

FUTURE OBJECTIVES Continuing the draft of the Rules Chapter and Annexes Evaluation of the results of the first ISTA GMO proficiency test and utilisation of the data obtained to define performance standards Continuing the collaboration with the STA and BSC Committees for the design of future tests Consolidating and extending the proficiency test program – next round by end 2002 The ISTA homepage as well as the ISTA Web Board will be organised as a platform for discussion Establishing a data base with information about testing methods, validation projects and links Organizing other Workshops specifically aimed at GMO analysis

Preliminary draft for the second ISTA GMO PROFICIENCY TEST TEST PROTOCOL Species: Glycine max Events: RR soybean (Monsanto) Number of samples: 5 Seeds/sample: 3000 Type of result: qualitative and quantitative threshold (1%) No prescribed or suggested analytical procedure Participation fee required for non-members