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.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1. INTRODUCTIONConventional ApproachImprovementEffectsRisk Assessment MethodologiesTechnologyChapter 2. RISK SOURCE CHARACTERISATIONProperties of donor organism Properties of recipient organismDNASelectable MarkersChapter 3. EXPOSURE ASSESSMENTRelease sites PerformanceBiological Properties Impact on Human HealthImpact on AnimalsImpact on the EnvironmentCase StudiesChapter 4. RISK ASSESSMENT & RISK MANAGEMENT ? HUMAN HEALTHAllergiesUnintentional Toxins Resistance of Microbes to AntibioticsMitigation and Containment ApproachesCase StudiesChapter 5. RISK ASSESSMENT & RISK MANAGEMENT ? ENVIRONMENTAgricultural Environment Peri-agricultural and ?natural? environmentSpread of Transgenes to non-GM cropsGene Flow to Weeds and Feral Crop SpeciesImpact on Biodiversity of Crop Species and Wild Flora and Fauna Generation of ?Superweeds?Case StudiesStewardship ProceduresCo-existence of GM and non-GM cropsTesting for GM Modifying Agronomic PracticesChapter 6. REGULATORY SYSTEMSCurrent framework of GM regulation International Conventions and Agreements Major Regulatory SystemsMajor Sources of Information.Chapter 7 THE POLITICS OF GM TECHNOLOGYDevelopment of Regulation of GM CropsRisk Perception Understanding the Scientific ProcessBioethical Aspects Roles of NGOs, the media and industry. Chapter 8 THE FUTURE OF GM TECHNOLOGYThe Future of GM Products Technology Evolution of Regulatory Structures AppendicesFurther Reading ListUseful Internet Sites

About the Author :
Roger Hull graduated in Botany from Cambridge University in 1960, and subsequently studied plant virus epidemiology at London University's Wye College, gaining a PhD in 1964. He lectured on agricultural botany there between 1960 and 1965. He was seconded to Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda in 1964 where he taught, and learnt tropical agricultural botany and studied the epidemiology of groundnut rosette disease. By watching aphids land on groundnut plants he gained an understanding of the edge effect of spread of virus into the field. In 1965 Roger Hull joined Roy Markham at the ARC Virus Research Unit in Cambridge, UK where he worked on biophysical and biochemical characterization of a range of viruses, especially Alfalfa mosaic virus. This work continued when he moved to the John Innes Institute, Norwich with Roy Markham in 1968. There Dr Hull became a project leader and deputy head of the Virus Research Department. In 1974 he spent a sabbatical year with Bob Shepherd in the University of California, Davis where he worked on the characterization of cauliflower mosaic virus. There he was introduced to the early stages of molecular biology which changed the direction of his research. On returning to the John Innes Institute he applied a molecular biological approach to the study of cauliflower mosaic virus elucidating that it replicated by reverse transcription, the first plant virus being shown to do so. Involvement with the Rockefeller Rice Biotechnology Program reawakened his interest in tropical agricultural problems and he led a large group studying the viruses of the rice tungro disease complex. He also promoted the use of transgenic technology to the control of virus diseases and was in the forefront in discussing biosafety issues associated with this approach. Moving from rice to bananas (plantains) his group was among those who discovered that the genome of banana streak badnavirus was integrated into the host genome and in certain cultivars was activated to give episomal infection - another first for plant viruses. He retired at the statutory age in 1997. Dr Hull is an Honorary Professor at Peking and Fudan Universities, a Doctoris Honoris Causa at the University of Perpignan, France, and a Fellow of the American Phytopathological Society. He is an Emeritus Fellow at the John Innes Centre where he continued research on banana streak virus for five or more years after retirement. He has published over 225 peer-reviewed papers on plant virology, many reviews and four books including the previous edition of Plant Virology and Comparative Plant Virology. In retirement Roger Hull became involved in promoting the uptake of transgenic technology by developing countries as one approach to alleviating food insecurity. He is on the International faculty of e-learning diploma course training decision makers, mainly in developing countries, in plant biotechnology regulation. His other interests are gardening, bird watching, travelling and his children and grandchildren.

Review :
"Overall, the authors have done a highly commendable job of compiling, organizing, and explaining in clear, unbiased language what is involved in getting a GM product through the current national and international regulatory schemes." --Professor Kent J. Bradford, Seed Biotechnology Center, University of California, Davis, CA, USA