Genetically Modified Plants: Assessing Safety and Managing Risk

A transgenic organism is a plant, animal, bacterium, or other living organism that has had a foreign gene added to it by means of genetic engineering. Transgenic plants can arise by natural movement of genes between species, by cross-pollination based hybridization between different plant species (which is a common event in flowering plant evolution), or by laboratory manipulations by artificial insertion of genes from another species. Methods used in traditional breeding that generate transgenic plants by non-recombinant methods are widely familiar to professional plant scientists, and serve important roles in securing a sustainable future for agriculture by protecting crops from pest and helping land and water to be used more efficiently.

There is worldwide interest in the biosafety issues related to transgenic crops because of issues such as increased pesticide use, increased crop and weed resistance to pesticides, gene flow to related plant species, negative effects on nontarget organisms, and reduced crop and ecosystem diversity. This book is intended to provide the basic information for a wide range of people involved in the release of transgenic crops. These will include scientists and researchers in the initial stage of developing transgenic products, industrialists, and decision makers. It will be of particular interest to plant scientists taking up biotechnological approaches to agricultural improvement for developing nations.

* Discusses traditional and future technology for genetic modification
* Compares conventional non-GM approaches and genetic modification
* Presents a risk assessment methodology for GM techniques
* Details mitigation techniques for human and environmental effects

Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION
Conventional Approach
Improvement
Effects
Risk Assessment Methodologies
Technology

Chapter 2. RISK SOURCE CHARACTERISATION
Properties of donor organism
Properties of recipient organism
DNA
Selectable Markers

Chapter 3. EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT
Release sites
Performance
Biological Properties
Impact on Human Health
Impact on Animals
Impact on the Environment
Case Studies

Chapter 4. RISK ASSESSMENT & RISK MANAGEMENT ? HUMAN HEALTH
Allergies
Unintentional Toxins
Resistance of Microbes to Antibiotics
Mitigation and Containment Approaches
Case Studies

Chapter 5. RISK ASSESSMENT & RISK MANAGEMENT ? ENVIRONMENT
Agricultural Environment
Peri-agricultural and ?natural? environment
Spread of Transgenes to non-GM crops
Gene Flow to Weeds and Feral Crop Species
Impact on Biodiversity of Crop Species and Wild Flora and Fauna
Generation of ?Superweeds?
Case Studies
Stewardship Procedures
Co-existence of GM and non-GM crops
Testing for GM
Modifying Agronomic Practices

Chapter 6. REGULATORY SYSTEMS
Current framework of GM regulation
International Conventions and Agreements
Major Regulatory Systems
Major Sources of Information.

Chapter 7 THE POLITICS OF GM TECHNOLOGY
Development of Regulation of GM Crops
Risk Perception
Understanding the Scientific Process
Bioethical Aspects
Roles of NGOs, the media and industry.

Chapter 8 THE FUTURE OF GM TECHNOLOGY
The Future of GM Products
Technology
Evolution of Regulatory Structures

Appendices
Further Reading List
Useful Internet Sites