• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.63-67
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• 2014

BACKGROUND: The present study is an exploratory research to establish national biosafety regulation systems through a survey on the recognition of safety regulation systems for the living modified organism(LMO). METHODS AND RESULTS: We have conducted a survey on an awareness of LMO safety regulation systems in scientific working groups. The data of 235 respondents were analyzed using various statistical methods. As a result, 72.8% of the respondents were male; 27.2% were female, and 43.4% of them work in the university. A total of 33.2% of the respondents majored in general biology, and their most common job position was the laboratory safety manager. The difference of an awareness on LMO law and regulatory system was not statistically significant by either work places or job positions. CONCLUSION: For the rapid settlement and the efficient implementation of LMO safety management policy, we conclude that it is required to reduce the gap between the recognition and fulfillment of safety management. Furthermore, the mutual exchanges of information among researchers are needed with the settlement of the safety management system and the harmony of policy with improvement of the absurd regulations. The ongoing and specialized training, inspections, and the strengthening of public relations are also required along with the efforts to improve the absurd regulations.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.98-105
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• 2014

Biosafety has become quite sensitive issues according to dramatic development of biotechnology and LMO(Living Modifying Organism) is one of the key issue in biosafety. This study is an exploratory research for investigating the activation strategy of biosafety training management in LMO research field. Based on the survey data, main results are derived through various statistical analysis methodology such as descriptive analysis, factor analysis, reliability analysis, analysis of variance and regression analysis. According to the analysis results, some activation strategies are required to reach the target such as extension of specialized biosafety training program, enhancement of safety consciousness from the undergraduate courses, introduction of appropriate safety regulations, unification of safety management and establishment of safety management system.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2023

As the social and economic value of living modified organisms (LMOs) increase, so do the potential risks they pose to humans and the environment. Therefore, all laboratories using LMOs must establish an LMO laboratory in accordance with the standards required by regulations. Recently, in high school, LMO-related experimental programs have been developed for their educational effects. Also, in this case, it is necessary to comply with the regulation for LMO laboratories. However, high schools are still unfamiliar with the LMO laboratory, and it is difficult for teachers to manage an LMO laboratory because its implementation applies the same standards to general research institutes. In this study, we used causal chain analysis to discover the difficulties each teacher faced while setting up an LMO laboratory by examining three cases. The difficulties experienced by teachers are as follows: the first problem is "reluctance to set up an LMO laboratory," because of "administrative tasks for laboratory registration" and "difficulty in persuading colleagues." The second problem is a difficulty for teachers to operate LMO laboratory in blind spots, due to "inflexible installation and closure," "medical waste disposal," and "LMO education that does not fit the school context." Through this study, although the difficulty of running an LMO laboratory is caused by a lack of necessity and insufficient consideration of the school context, the more fundamental cause was a lack of collaborative planning between the educational field and the operating institutions. The teachers who participate in this research suggest that "using shared LAB" and "preparing opportunities for knowledge sharing" can be considered as strategies for operating the school's LMO laboratory. We feel that this study will provide a useful reference for teachers or schools planning to build an LMO laboratory.

• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.247-253
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• 2023

Revolutionary advancements, such as the reduction in DNA sequencing costs and genome editing, have transformed biotechnology, fostering progress in manipulating biomolecules, engineering cells, and computational biology. Agriculture and food production have significantly benefited from tools like high-throughput microarrays, accelerating the selection of desired traits. Genetic engineering, especially utilizing genome editing, facilitates precise alterations in plants and animals, harnessing microbiomes and fostering lab-grown meat production to alleviate environmental pressures. The emergence of new biotechnologies, notably genome editing, underscores the necessity for regulatory frameworks governing LM (living modified) organisms. Global regulations overseeing genetically engineered or genome-edited (GE) organisms, encompassing animals, exhibit considerable diversity. Nonetheless, prevailing international regulatory trends typically exclude genomeedited plants and animals, employing novel biotechnological techniques, from GMO/ LMO classification if they lack foreign genes and originate through natural mutations or traditional breeding programs. This comprehensive review scrutinizes ongoing risk and safety assessment cases, such as genome-edited beef cattle and fish in the USA and Japan. Furthermore, it investigates the limitations of existing regulations related to genome editing in Korea and evaluates newly proposed legislation, offering insights into the future trajectory of regulatory frameworks.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.305-314
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• 2018

'New Breeding Techniques (NBTs)' have been one of hot issues, since their future will be affected profoundly by national as well as international regulatory landscapes. In this review, we compare characteristics of NBTs with conventional and genetic modification, and analyze genetically modified organism (GMO) regulatory systems in the context of possible regulation of NBTs. NBTs are very heterogeneous in terms of principles, methodologies, and final products. As Living Modified Organisms (LMO) is defined in the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CPB) as an organism containing novel combination of genetic materials obtained by the use of modern biotechnology, CPB as well as other national legislations locate itself somewhere in the middle between product-based and process-based regulations. It is also noted that jurisdictions with regulatory systems more oriented to product-based one tend to be more productive and decide or may decide to exempt site-directed nucleases-1 from GMO regulation. In this context, Korean legislations are reviewed to clarify the commons and differences in GMO definitions. Act on Transboundary Movement of LMO Act, Food Sanitation Act and Agricultural and Fishery Products Quality Control Act are three major acts to regulate GMOs. It is noted that there are differences in the definition of LMO or GM food/products especially between the LMO Act and the Food Sanitation Act. Such differences may cause conflicts between Acts when policy-decision regarding the regulation of NBTs is made. Therefore, it is necessary to reorganize legislations before policies regarding the regulation of any techniques from biotechnology are made.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.50
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• pp.275-289
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• 2023

Since the implementation of the Living Modified Organisms (LMOs) Act in 2008, approximately 10 million tons of genetically modified corn, soybean, potato, canola, and other crops have been imported into South Korea. The import approval procedures have been completed for approximately 191 cases that include seven crops. Of these, approximately 90 cases, excluding crossbreeds of approved LMOs, were reviewed via consultation risk evaluation in four areas: human health, crop culture, natural ecology, and marine fishery environment. LMO developers in South Korea, who are major stakeholders in the import of LMO crops produced overseas, have raised concerns regarding procedural inefficiency in consultation reviews and the need of excessive reviews that are unsuitable for food-feed processing purposes. These procedures reflect the perspective of consultation agencies that deviate from the nature of risk assessment and demand specific supplementary data that do not reflect familiarity and substantial equilibrium. Based on frequent instances of unintentional environmental release of LMO crops imported into Korea, the ministries responsible for consultation insist on a review that considers the climate and natural environment of Korea. In addition, the ministries mandate that their reviews reflect the expertise of competent ministries and are based on risk assessment principles and methods in accordance with international guidelines. In this regard, considering that traits introduced into LMO crops involving familiar agricultural crops have been considered safe for more than two decades, we have suggested reasonable alternatives to several risk assessment items for agricultural LMOs. These alternatives can mitigate conflicts of interest among key stakeholders within the scope of the current LMO regulations.

• Food Science and Industry
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.153-170
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• 2019

With the breathtaking stride beingmade in the field of biotechnology, biocatalyst research using genetically modified microorganism (GMM) is actively being pursued in food industry. However, domestic food and food additive regulation standards and the number of examination management examples currently used in industry is lacking significantly. Up till now, there are only 6 examples of domestic GMM examination and approval cases for food production purposes and furthermore they are limited to the production of functional sweeteners. Domestically, although GMM is developed as a processing aid (contained use), if they are used in the production of food, the safety of GMM, including environmental safety, is evaluated. Also the produced food or food additives using GMM need to be separately examined and approved as a novel food. On the other hand, imported products produced using GMM need to gain approval for the final product only. Thus the expense and the time to obtain regulatory approval is advantageous for imported products versus domestically produced products. This commentary is written to create the opportunity to reform the current domestic food GMM regulation by comparing and discussing domestic and foreign case analyses of safety evaluation of GMM and related regulations.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.163-170
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• 2022

There is a continuous rise in the commercialization of living modified (LM) organisms worldwide. While LM plants have not yet been cultivated in South Korea, research, development, import of products, and registration of related research facilities are progressing. LM plants should be tested in greenhouses and fields during development. Furthermore, environmental risk assessment and safety management should be performed before their release into the environment. Research on LM plant development is conducted in laboratories as well as confined greenhouses and fields. Safety management regulations are provided as combination standards for the LMO Act in each research district. The accidental release of the LM petunia in Japan was a significant incident related to LM plant research. It implies that normal plants within the distance of crossing should be regarded as LM plants. In the United States, LM creeping bentgrass was released into the environment, thus necessitating the establishment of stringent measures to prevent the scattering of LM plant seeds by wind or other mediums. In South Korea, LM Zoysia and LM cotton were released through rainwater. Therefore, safety measures that prevent LM seed mixing and plant vegetative propagules escaping into the environment via rainwater must be established. Preventing the dispersal of unapproved LM plants requires significant time, expenditure, and effort. Researchers should first identify the impact of LM plants on the ecosystem, and steps to avert their environmental release must be implemented.