Turkey approves four more biotech traits

On August 2, 2017, the Turkish Government’s Official Gazette published the Biosafety Board Decisions on genetically engineered (GE) feed imports. The Board approved four new events and their products for feed use only: 3 soybeans (MON 87708, BPS-CV127-9, MON87705) and 1 corn (MON 87460) event and their products.

As background, on May 11, 2015, the Turkish Poultry Meat Producers and Breeders Association (BesdBir) submitted dossiers to the Biosafety Board to request approval for 37 traits for feed use (9 soybean, 15 corn, 4 canola, and 10 cotton). The Biosafety Board is reviewing the applications under the simplified procedure, which is an expedited review process. Five traits and their products were approved on July 16, 2015 for feed use including 3 corn (MIR604, MON 863, T25) and 2 soybeans (MON87701 and MON87701xMON89788). Eight events (6 corn (MON863 x NK603, MON863 x MON810, MON89034 xMON88017, MIR604 xGA21, Bt11xMIR604, MIR162) and 2 soybean (A5547-127, 356043) events) were approved on November 5, 2015 and additional four events given above were approved on August 2, 2017. The remaining 20 traits are still undergoing assessments by the Biosafety Board. Please see Table 2 below.

The newest approval decisions may be accessed through the link below in Turkish language: http://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/main.aspx?home=http://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2017/08/201708 02.htm&main=http://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2017/08/20170802.htm

As a result of these new approvals, currently, there are 36 approved GE events for feed in Turkey. Please see Table 1 below.