IITA gets biotechnology stewardship certification
After completing a three-year audit cycle, IITA has become a certified member of Excellence Through Stewardship (ETS). ETS is a global organization that promotes the adoption of product stewardship programs and quality management systems for the full life cycle of agricultural biotechnology products. IITA joined the ETS organization as a member in late 2016, marking its commitment to establishing the best quality management system and product stewardship practices.
IITA’s ETS certificate.
Since joining ETS in 2016, IITA has been developing and establishing recommended biotech stewardship practices to meet ETS certification requirements under the leadership of Leena Tripathi, a Principal Scientist leading transgenic and genome-editing research. The IITA Plant Transformation Group has established a quality management system (QMS) and adopted several best practices, where teams go above and beyond to meet and exceed stewardship requirements. The best practices include a documentation system, availability of critical records, accessibility of documents and standard operating procedures (SOPs), regulatory compliance, and competent staff. There has been continuous and sustained training of the team and partners on stewardship and local regulatory requirements, e.g., National Biosafety requirements for biotech activities. The group has a shared understanding of Incident Response (External and Internal), Corrective and Preventive Action, and Continuous improvement through the training.
