Feasibility of a safe innovation framework for crop breeding.

Abstract

Biotechnological innovations accelerate the development of new plant varieties at an ever-increasing pace. A framework for safe innovation can create opportunities for the integration of safety considerations into each stage of the lifecycle of these products. Through stakeholder engagement, we discussed their views, preferences, as well as perceived challenges surrounding safe innovation and innovative biotechnological tools in the plant breeding sector. Furthermore, five scenarios for safe innovation frameworks were presented to them. Stakeholders from the Dutch plant breeding sector favored a self-regulated safety scenario, allowing the plant breeding sector to develop best practices with guidance from the government and independent researchers. Based on the stakeholders' views, we developed a draft voluntary framework for safe innovation named "Safe Innovation in Plant breeding (SIP) Framework," which is grounded in safe innovation principles, and focuses on food safety in particular.