From the 9th to the 11th of July the Head of the GMO unit in the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Dr Elisabeth Waigmann, had the opportunity to visit the maize field trials and laboratories at The National Institute for Agricultural and Food Research and Technology and agrifood research (INIA) based in Madrid, Spain.
Dr. Waigmann was guided by AMIGA project coordinator Dr Salvatore Arpaia and the team of researchers dedicated to the AMIGA activities on the field trials to have a wider view of the project’s developments and to be informed about the starting of the new field season.
Three field experiments are currently being performed by INIA in the framework of the AMIGA project at 2 different locations, with a total surface of about 7.5 Ha using two different GM maize events the unregulated MON810 and a triple stack which is currently under evaluation by EFSA.
Dr. Arpaia refers that “the visit of the Head of the EFSA GMO Unit was very welcomed by AMIGA partners, during these three days Mrs Waigmann participated to all the experimental activities that the colleagues of INIA are conducting currently, from field samplings to laboratory examination of the specimen collected. Mrs Waigmann expressed her satisfaction for the ongoing activities and she welcomed a continuous cooperation between AMIGA Consortium and EFSA in the near future. She also declared that AMIGA represents a good example of applied research in the area of biosafety and should be looked favorably by all other stakeholders, considering that publicly funded Institutes are undertaking this effort in a transparent way and with the clear goal of proving the practicability of the current guidelines for environmental risk assessment. Special thanks go to Ms Cristina Chueca and all her team for making the visit fruitful, effective and pleasant”.
Within AMIGA INIA is involved in different research activities, including support to the analysis of the rophic structures in agro-ecosystems, the Integrated Pest Management for GM crops and the Post Marketing Environmental Monitoring.