Introduction of Genetically Modified Organisms into the Environment: (No 44 SCOPE Report S.)

SCOPE is one of a number of committees established by the nongovernmental group of scientific organizations, the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU). The mandate of SCOPE is to assemble, review, and assess the information available on man-made environmental changes and the effects of these changes on man; to assess and evaluate the methodologies of measurement of environmental parameters; to provide an intelligence service on current research, and by the recruitment of the best available scientific information and constructive thinking to establish itself as a corpus of informed advice for the benefit of centres of fundamental research and of organizations and agencies operationally engaged in studies of the environment. SCOPE and the Committee on Genetic Experimentation (COGENE) co-sponsored a meeting of specialists in molecular biology, population genetics and ecology to consider the issues related to the introduction of genetically-modified organisms into the environment. The charge to this group was to provide the necessary scientific background in order to make a statement on the potential benefits and hazards of introductions of bio-engineered organisms. This volume contains first the statement and then the background from which it is derived. The participants of the meeting included those that have been central in the revolution of thought and techniques that have characterized the development of molecular biology as well as ecologists that have actively participated in an analysis of the facts and environmental consequences of introduced organisms.

Table of Contents:
Part 1 History of concerns regarding genetic manipulation: risk assessment for genetic experimentation and application, Anna Marie Skalka; recombinant DNA - past lessons and current concerns, Allan Campbell. Part 2 Genetic transfer and the environment: impact of human civilization on biological evolution, Werner Arber; epistatic and pleiotropic effects on genetic manipulation, Allan Campbell; modulation of replication efficiency by non-coding sequences and by the environment, Giorgio Bernardi et al; population consequences of genetic design in sexually reproducing organisms, Freddy B.Christiansen; evolutionary consequences of modifying cultivated plants, A.Caplan and M.Van Montagu; organization and dynamics of the Rhizobium genome - a basis for introducing novel arrangements of genetic information into the environment, Rafael Palacios et al; engineering microbes for function and safety in the environment, D.F.Dwyer and Kenneth N.Timmis; patterns of establishment and spread of animal viruses, Frank Fenner; the release of genetically designed organisms in the environment - lessons from the study of the ecology of biological invasions, Harold A.Mooney and James A.Drake. Part 3 Assessment and regulation: the ecology of genetically-engineered organisms - assessing the environmental risks, Michael J.Crawley; safety standards for the environmental release of genetically-engineered organisms, Simon A.Levin; regulation of biotechnology - a perspective on the US "Coordinated Framework", David T.Kingsbury; current trends in the evaluation of the impact of deliberate release of microorganisms in the environment - a case study with a bioinsecticidal bacterium, Robert M.Faust and Kunthala Jayaraman.