Methods for Risk Assessment of Transgenic Plants

by Ammann, Klaus; Jacot, Yolande; Kjellsson, Gosta; Simonsen, Vibeke

• ISBN13: 9783764359171
• ISBN10: 376435917X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-01-01
• Publisher: Birkhauser

Summary

The Berne Symposium invited leading scientists of risk assessment research with transgenic crops on an international level in order to enhance the discussion regulators and members of the biotech industry. The goal was to determine the status quo and also to make progress in times of a first global spread of transgenes in agrosystems about risk assessment. The dialogue between scientists, regulators and industry representatives also revealed some lacunes of risk assessment research, which will have to be filled in the future: We still lack longterm experience, for which we will have to collect data with scientific precision. The symposium concluded asking for a risk-oriented longterm monitoring system based on critical science and hard data. This volume presents the discussion sessions as well as the scientific contributions and thus mirrors the risk assessment debate, based not on exaggerated negative scenarios but on critical science and hard data.

Table of Contents

Setting the scene I	ix
Gosta Kjellsson
Setting the scene II	xi
Klaus Ammann
Session 1: Ecological effects of transgenes
Predicting the ecological impacts of transgenes for insect and virus resistance in natural and feral populations of Brassica species	3	(14)
Alan F. Raybould
Catherine L. Moyes
Lindsay C. Maskell
Rebecca J. Mogg
Elizabeth A. Warman
Judith C. Wardlaw
Graham W. Elmes
Mary-Lou Edwards
J. Ian Cooper
Ralph T. Clarke
Alan J. Gray
A multisite-cooperative research programme on risk assessment of transgenic crops	17	(4)
Xavier Reboud
Jacques Gasquez
Henri Darmency
Monitoring the environmental impact of transgenic sugar beet Beta vulgaris subspec. vulgaris altissima Doll - are we able to ask the right questions?	21	(10)
Matthias Pohl-Orf
Ulrike Brand
Ingolf Schuphan
Detlef Bartsch
Discussion session 1: Ecological effects of transgenes	27	(4)
Session 2: Modelling in risk assessment
The role of modelling in risk assessment for the release of genetically engineered plants	31	(12)
Glynis D. Gidding
Modelling the spread of disease resistance gene in natural plant populations	43	(4)
Christian Damagaard
The wave of advancement of introduced genes in natural plant populations	47	(10)
Jarle Tufto
Discussion session 2: Ecological effects of transgenes	53	(4)
Session 3: Short-term, long-term effects and standardisation of limits
Short-term effects, long-term effects and standardisation of limits	57	(6)
Philip J. Dale
Elimination of agrobacteria from transgenic plants	63	(6)
Jorg Landsmann
Elke Graser
Anja Matzk
Assessment of long-term environmental impacts of transgenic trees: Norway spruce as a case study	69	(8)
Bjorn A. Tommeras
Kjetil Hindar
Long-term questions related to agroecological effects of transgenic Bt-crops	77	(10)
Angelika Hilbeck
Franz Bigler
Discussion session 3: Short-term, long-term effects and standardisation of limits	83	(4)
Session 4: Monitoring methods
Molecular markers for monitoring transgenic plants	87	(8)
Vibeke Simonsen
Biogeographical assay and natural gene flow	95	(4)
Pia Rufener Al Mazyad
Klaus Ammann
Gene flow between selected swiss crops and related weeds: risk assessment for the field releases of GMO's in Switzerland	99	(10)
Yolande Jacot
Klaus Ammann
How do the design of monitoring and control strategies affect the chance of detecting and containing transgenic weeds?	109	(20)
Michelle A. Marvier
Eli Meir
Peter M. Kareiva
Discussion session 4: Monitoring methods	123	(6)
Session 5: Population genetics
Transgene movement via gene flow: recommendations for improved biosafety assessment	129	(12)
Terrie Klinger
Norman C. Ellstrand
Risk assessment of gene flow from a virus-resistant transgenic squash into a wild relative	141	(4)
Marc Fuchs
Dennis Gonsalves
RNA recombination in transgenic virus resistant plants	145	(10)
Pia Malnoe
Gabor Jakab
Eric Droz
Fabian Vaistij
Discussion session 5: Population genetics	149	(6)
Session 6: Decision procedures, harmonisation
Transgenic plants and safety regulation	155	(4)
Simon Barber
Monitoring the impact of releases of genetically modified herbicide tolerant oilseed rape in the UK	159	(12)
Jeremy B. Sweet
Views of non-governmental organizations on the risk evaluation of genetically modified organisms	171	(4)
Piet Schenkelaars
Risk assessment of transgenic plants -- a comparison with pesticide regulation	175	(10)
Werner Mueller
Helge Torgersen
Helmut Gaugitsch
Discussion session 6: Decision procedures, harmonisation	179	(6)
Session 7: Methodological lacunas
Methodological lacunas: the need for new research and methods in risk assessment	185	(14)
Gosta Kjellsson
Discussion session 7: Methodological lacunas	195	(4)
Session 8: Conclusion, strategies, where do we go from here?
Where do we come from, where do we go from here?	199	(6)
Klaus Ammann
Biljana Papazov Ammann
From risk assessment to a more comprehensive technology evaluation -- contribution of modern plant breeding to sustainable agriculture	205	(4)
Elisabeth Schulte
Transgenic plants and the management of virtual risks	209	(4)
John Adams
Dilemmas of risk-assessment research for transgenic crops	213	(10)
Les Levidow
Susan Carr
Discussion session 8: Conclusion, strategies, where do we go from here?	217	(6)
Bern conference on gene flow: one scientist's reflections	223	(2)
Thomas E. Nickson
The concept of familiarity and its role in the commercialization of pest resistant genetically engineered plants	225	(4)
James L. White
Poster session
Assessment and management of field testing of transgenic crop plants in east asian countries	229	(2)
Akira Hasebe
Mechanism of DNA integration into Agrobacterium genome-its relevance to horizontal gene transfer	231	(2)
Kornel Burg
Karin Hohl
Maria Berenyi
Gene flow in selected swiss crops and related weeds, risk assessment for the field release of GMO's in Switzerland: case of wheat and oilseed rape	233	(2)
Roberto Guadagnuolo
Dessislava Savova Bianchi
Julia Keller Senften
Pia Rufener Al Mazyad
Yolande Jacot
Klaus Ammann
Francois Felber
TA-project ``genetic engineering, breeding and biodiversity''	235	(2)
Rolf Meyer
Arnold Sauter
Final summary of the conference	237	(4)
Klaus Ammann
Yolande Jacot
Gosta Kjellsson
Vibeke Simonsen
Acknowledgements	241	(2)
List of participants	243	(12)
Subject index	255