2006-12-06 | permalink

Ecological impacts of genetically engineered crops: Ten years of field research and commercial cultivation

Conclusions: The risks GE crops pose for the environment, and especially for biodiversity, have been extensively assessed worldwide during the past ten years of commercial cultivation. Consequently, substantial scientific data on environmental effects of the currently commercialized GE crops is available today, and will further be obtained given that several research programs are underway in a number of countries. The data available so far provide no scientific evidence that the commercial cultivation of GE crops has caused environmental harm. Nevertheless, a number of issues related to the interpretation of scientific data on effects of GE crops on the environment are debated controversially. To a certain extent, this is due to the inherent fact that scientific data is always characterized by uncertainties, and that predictions on potential long-term or cumulative effects are difficult. Uncertainties can either be related to the circumstance that there is not yet a sufficient data basis provided for an assessment of consequences (the "unknown"), or to the fact that the questions posed are out of reach for scientific methods (the "unknowable"). Although some might argue that experience and solid scientific knowledge are still lacking, the debate is generally not purely due to a lack of scientific data, but more to an ambiguous interpretations of what is considered an ecologically relevant effect of GE crops. The interpretation of study results is thereby often challenged by the absence of a defined baseline to evaluate environmental effects of GE crops in the context of modern agricultural systems. There is thus a need to develop scientific criteria to assist regulatory authorities when deciding whether environmental effects of GE crops are considered relevant.

• Information Systems for Biotechnology News Report, USA: Olivier Sanvido, Michèle Stark, Jörg Romeis and Franz Bigler