Dr. Barry O'Reilly:

In terms of who owns the products, there are a couple of different mechanisms that provide protection for developers of NGTs. First, there are the patents. If someone makes an invention of an NGT product because that plant is produced by technical means, he or she can patent that particular plant or the trait that is in that plant.

With regard to varieties, there is intellectual property on varieties through the plant breeders' rights system. That allows plant breeders to register a variety and to control the marketing and propagation of that variety.

In terms of the safety aspect, category one NGT plants are considered equivalent to conventional plants. There are no additional risks in terms of safety associated with that if they are considered to be conventional and meet the criteria. If the plants do not, obviously they will fall under the genetically modified organisms, GMO, legislation. Under the GMO legislation a very robust risk assessment is carried out whereby-----