Biotechnology and genetically modified organisms
Developments in genetics and biotechnology over the last 50
years have culminated in the genetic modification of living
organisms to produce crops, trees, animals and microorganisms with
novel characteristics. While some products of biotechnology,
including genetically modified organisms (GMOs), could be designed
to enable more environmentally sustainable management practices,
the release of GMOs may pose a number of risks to human and animal
health and the environment. In agricultural biotechnology for
example, there could be ecological disruption caused by novel
interactions between transgenic crops and animals, and native
species. GM varieties could also cause environmentally harmful
changes in the way we manage our agricultural, forest and aquatic
ecosystems. Some of these risks may be unique to the products of
genetic modification, but others could also stem from
'conventional' crop breeding.
Deliberate release of GMOs is regulated in the European Union by
European Directive 2001/18/EC and
Regulation (EC) 1829/2003 on genetically modified food and feed
and in the UK by the Environmental Protection Act (1990) and the
GMO Regulations
(Deliberate Release) 2002. Unintentional movements of GMOs
between Member States and exports of GMOs to third countries are
governed by
Regulation (EC) No 1946/2003 on transboundary movements of
genetically modified organisms. The various EC Seeds Directives are
also relevant to GMO releases: for example Directives 98/95/EC and
98/96/EC contain provision for regulating the presence of GM seed
in non-GM batches.
Natural England (formerly English Nature) is the
Biotechnology Lead Agency, assisting the
JNCC in carrying out its special functions on behalf of the other
country conservation agencies. The Lead Agency's work falls into
two main areas:
- responses to statutory consultations from government on GMO
releases, and by acting as an Assessor on the Advisory Committee on
Releases to the Environment (ACRE);
- promoting the views of the statutory agencies on
potential environmental impacts of new biological
technologies.
Current or recent work includes
- Assessing the results of the government's recently completed
Farm-Scale Evaluations (FSE) programme and providing advice on the
implications for farmland biodiversity;
- Providing input into ACRE's subgroup on 'wider issues raised by
the Farm-Scale Evaluations of GMHT crops', which is looking at ways
to assess the sustainability of farming systems;
- Influencing public research agendas in order to create a
stronger focus on sustainability – for example by helping to shape
the research programme for the Government's Strategy for
Sustainable Farming and Food;
- Developing and promoting our view on EC proposals for
thresholds for adventitious presence ('contamination') of GM seeds
in non-GM seed batches;
- Contributing to discussions on the design of monitoring and
general surveillance plans and coexistence regimes for GMOs placed
on the market in the EU.
- Providing advice on biosafety assessment to regulators in
other countries;
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