Sonny P. Tababa serves as Biotechnology Affairs Director of CropLife Asia (CLA), a regional unit of CropLife International, a plant science industry association, based in Singapore.
She advocates for approaches towards timely access of agricultural innovations including plant biotechnology in seeds as well as safe and responsible agriculture. Her work ranges from policy advocacy, knowledge sharing and management and technology transfer.
With previous work engagements at the Southeast Asian Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) as Network Administrator of its Biotechnology Information Center and as Senior Science Research Specialist at the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCARRD).
Ms. Tababa completed her BS and MS in Agronomy at the University of the Philippines Los Banos.
AbstractRegulatory Landscape for New Breeding Techniques (NBT) in Asia
The rapid advances in the application of new breeding techniques like gene editing such as CRISPR and other gene editing tools have enabled the development of several plant varieties improved with traits that benefit farmers and consumers alike. Along with new plant varieties developed from gene editing techniques is the discussion on its regulatory status across countries. Globally, many countries have made regulatory decisions on these products, others are making progress in setting up its guidance or framework, while others are still deliberating on this issue. In this update, a summary on the current developments in gene editing on crops focusing on regulatory field in Asia-Pacific will be discussed.
