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Michelle Epstein takes on role in the European Food Safety Authority

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(Vienna, 19 October 2018) The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has appointed Michelle Epstein, Head of the Experimental Allergy Laboratory at MedUni Vienna's Department of Dermatology, onto its Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs).

Members of the Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) serve for a three-year term and are also members of the EFSA Working Group on GMO Food and Feed. The Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) is an independent scientific advisory panel on food and feed safety, environmental risk assessment and molecular plant research. Its members are international scientists from throughout Europe.
The Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) provides scientific advice on food and feed safety, environmental risks and molecular characterisation/plant sciences. Its work is primarily concerned with genetically modified plants, microorganisms and animals.

About the EFSA
The EFSA is a European authority, which is financed by the European Union and works independently of the European Commission, the European Parliament and EU member states. In its role as risk assessor, the EFSA produces scientific reports and recommendations that are used as a basis for establishing European policy and legislation relating to the food supply chain. Following a series of food crises in the late 1990s, it was set up in 2002 as an independent source of scientific advice and communication on risks associated with the food supply chain. The Authority was legally established by the EU as part of the General Food Law (Regulation (EC) 178/2002). The General Food Law created a European food safety system, which separates the responsibilities for risk assessment and risk management.

About Michelle Epstein
Michelle Epstein studied biochemistry at McGill University in Montreal and medicine at the University of Alberta Medical School in Edmonton and subsequently worked as a fellow in the Department of Immunobiology at Yale University School of Medicine. After many years as Fogarty International Visiting Associate at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Bethesda (USA), she took over management of the Experimental Allergy Laboratory at the Department of Dermatology of MedUni Vienna/Vienna General Hospital.