Hazard identification and risk assessment procedure for genetically modified plants in the field--GMHAZID.

The safe application of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) requires a risk assessment prior to their proposed use. Based on methods from the chemical industry, we developed a hazard identification procedure for the risk assessment of field tests with genetically modified plants. This risk assessment method, GMHAZID, is carried out in the form of guided brainstorm sessions. GMHAZID was tested with a case study for which a risk assessment had previously been made, and the results of the assessments were compared. The results showed that some new hazards potentially leading to uncontrolled spreading, in addition to those from the previous assessment, were identified using GMHAZID. GMHAZID also recognised some hazards leading to failures in the field experiments. We suggest that GMHAZID provides systematics, reliability, and transparency to the risk assessment procedure.