A project was commissioned by the CORESTA Task Force Genetically Modified Tobacco – Collaborative Study on Detection Methods, to study the state-of-the-art in the detection of GM species in tobacco. Two rounds of a proficiency test were carried out as part of this study, both of them concerned solely with the detection of GM tobacco in mixtures containing GM and non-GM tobacco at levels between 0% and 5% GM tobacco. The study highlighted issues surrounding the ability of laboratories to detect GM tobacco at low levels, and the suitability of certain primers for these analyses.

This report provides additional information to complement the Final Report on Proficiency Testing Trials for Detection of GM Tobacco published in May 2002.