Advice on the renewal of import and processing of GM soybean MON 87705

COGEM has been asked to advise on the renewal of the permit for the import and processing of genetically modified (GM) soybean MON 87705. In this GM soybean, the expression of the FAD2-1A and FATB1A genes has been inhibited, resulting in soybeans with an altered fatty acid composition.
The application contains, among other things, updated bioinformatics analyses, a recent literature study and the results of the mandatory ‘post-market environmental monitoring’. This does not provide any new insights into possible risks of GM soybean MON 87705 for humans and the environment. Although the climate is not optimal, soy is grown on a small scale in the Netherlands. Volunteer plants are rarely observed here and have never led to feral populations. There are no wild relatives of soybean in Europe, which means that the introduced genes cannot spread to other species. Taking all aspects into consideration, COGEM considers the environmental risks for the Netherlands from the import and processing of GM soy MON 87705 to be negligible.