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Report says gene flow from GM crops not likely to harm environment

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Davis, California
December 12, 2007

Implications of Gene Flow in the Scale-up and Commercial Use of Biotechnology-derived Crops: Economic and Policy Considerations

This Issue Paper identifies the nature of gene flow and how it relates to adventitious presence, describes the biological traits being imparted into biotech crops, summarizes present risk assessment and regulatory mechanisms, and discusses potential economic effects and policy and research ramifications of gene flow of commercial biotech crops.
Chair: David Gealy, USDA--Agricultural Research Service, Stuttgart, Arkansas.
IP 37, December 2007, 24 pp.
http://www.cast-science.org/displayProductDetails.asp?idProduct=149

Gene flow from genetically modified crop plants to their wild relatives will have little overall impact on human health or the environment, predicts a team of researchers in a report released today by the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology.

Gene flow -- the movement of genes from one plant population to another -- has always occurred naturally but has drawn particular attention during the past 10 years, as genetically modified crop plants have moved into commercial production.

"Regulatory requirements and market standards that are specific to crops developed using biotechnology have resulted in much closer monitoring of gene flow than has been done in the past," said plant scientist Kent Bradford, a co-author of the report and director of UC Davis' Seed Biotechnology Center.

"After analyzing a wide range of crop-trait-location combinations, it was determined that relatively few of these combinations present the potential for gene flow to adversely affect the environment or human health," Bradford said. "Gene flow within a given crop can result in economic impacts for specific markets but these can be managed through proven strategies that make it possible for genetically modified crops and nonbiotech crops to co-exist."

In this report, the contributing scientists describe the biological traits that are being imparted to both biotech crops and nonbiotech crops, and the ramifications each has for gene flow. They discuss the potential for the inadvertent mixing of seeds or other genetic material from a given plant with a shipment of other seed or grain, and examine isolation and segregation methods for preventing such unwanted gene flow.

The report summarizes existing regulatory and risk-assessment mechanisms for biotech crops and discusses the potential economic implications of biotech crops in the marketplace. It also explores future policy and research issues.

The full text of the paper "Implications of Gene Flow in the Scale-up and Commercial Use of Biotechnology-derived Crops: Economic and Policy Considerations," is available online at <http://www.cast-science.org>.

The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology is an international consortium of 38 scientific and professional societies that assembles and interprets science-based information and disseminates it to the public.
 

New CAST paper addresses the implications of gene flow related to commercial use of biotech crops
Ames, Iowa

The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) is releasing a new Issue Paper, Implications of Gene Flow in the Scale-up and Commercial Use of Biotechnology-derived Crops: Economic and Policy Considerations.

Gene flow is a natural occurrence in the biological world and always has been. The introduction of biotechnology-derived crops, however, has caused an increased interest in understanding and managing gene flow. According to Task Force Chair David Gealy, USDA–ARS, “Humans have selected, adapted, and improved crops from diverse species for numerous purposes. Many useful traits are being imparted into biotech and nonbiotech crops, most of which are likely to impact the dynamics of gene flow very little, especially outside of agricultural fields. Precommercialization procedures that take into account the specific trait being introduced will help to insure that impacts of gene flow remain low.”

The Issue Paper:

• Describes biological traits being imparted into biotech crops and their gene flow ramifications
• Explains the phenomenon of adventitious presence and how it relates to gene flow
• Discusses containment approaches for the mitigation of gene flow
• Summarizes existing regulatory and risk assessment mechanisms for biotech crops
• Discusses potential economic implications of biotech crops in the marketplace
• Explores future policy and research issues.

“Science and technology have played a significant role in how the U.S. and other world markets produce crops,” notes CAST Executive Vice President John Bonner. “This new paper offers insight regarding the gene flow potential and economic implications of such crops, and CAST is pleased to help facilitate this important discussion.”

The full text of the paper Implications of Gene Flow in the Scale-up and Commercial Use of Biotechnology-derived Crops: Economic and Policy Considerations (Issue Paper No. 37) may be accessed on the CAST website at www.cast-science.org, along with many of CAST’s other scientific publications, and is available in hardcopy for $5.00 (includes shipping) by contacting the CAST office at 515-292-2125. CAST is an international consortium of 38 scientific and professional societies. It assembles, interprets, and communicates credible science-based information regionally, nationally, and internationally to legislators, regulators, policymakers, the media, the private sector, and the public.

 

 

 

 

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