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.
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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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