Experts Push to Rethink Risk Assessments by Bridging Science, Policy, and Public Trust

The global success of agricultural biotechnology depends not only on scientific risk assessment to ensure safety, but also on establishing transparent, understandable biosafety regulations that translate into legitimate risk-management decisions. This key insight comes from a review article authored by Komal Saini and Devesh Giri of the Chandigarh Group of Colleges in Punjab, India.

The review highlights several critical points:

• Transgenic and gene-editing tools offer sustainable solutions for agriculture, but widespread adoption is still hindered by fragmented regulatory frameworks, ethical concerns, and public distrust. 
• A holistic review pairs scientific risk assessments (aligned with Codex Alimentarius and OECD standards) with the broader socio-legal and judicial environments where policy decisions occur. 
• Historical analysis of regulatory decisions illustrates the divergence between product-based risk governance (used in the USA) and process-based regulatory models (adopted by the EU and India). 
• Global case studies, such as MON810 maize, Bt Brinjal, and the April 2024 Philippine Court of Appeals injunction against Golden Rice, demonstrate growing tension between regulatory scientific approvals and precautionary judicial rulings. 
• Policy exemptions for Site-Directed Nuclease (SDN-1 and SDN-2) techniques have enabled major commercial milestones, including India's 2025 rollout of climate-resilient rice. These developments highlight the urgent need for flexible, risk-proportionate, and internationally coordinated regulatory systems. 

Read the full paper in Transgenic Research.