Biotechnology, biosafety and impact assessment: field trials of transgenic crops in developing countries

BioSafety, Volume 3, Paper 4 (BY97004) 1997
Online Journal - URL: http://www.bdt.org.br/bioline/by

Biotechnology, Biosafety and Impact Assessment: Field Trials of Transgenic Crops in Developing Countries

Andre de Kathen

Dept of Molecular Genetics, University of Hannover, Herrenhauserstr. 2, 30419 Hannover, Germany
email: kathen@mbox.lgm.uni-hannover.de


Code Number: BY97004
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ABSTRACT

The deliberate release of transgenic crops is often taken to be an indicator of agricultural biotechnology development. However, less than 10% of the field trials world wide have been carried out in Developing Countries (DCs) and it seems that more than 80% of these were carried out by multinational companies to speed up seed production in the counter season or to test transgenic crops under special environmental conditions.

The DCs differ widely in their legal, religious, political and social system as well as in issues such as educational standards, agronomic tradition and national income. Generally, these countries have not evolved an appropriate biotechnology market structure, hindering the development of an "indigenous" biotechnology capacity, a prerequisite for establishing and translating Biosafety Guidelines within a legally binding system. Several countries in the developing world, although highly interested in establishing agrobiotechnology capacities, have neither developed a national or regional programme nor guidelines for the safe use of modern biotechnology tools. An overview on the actual situation is given.

The release of transgenic plants in DCs is, despite its implications for trade agreements, intellectual property rights and a Biosafety Protocol, of particular interest for impact assessment studies, because most of the worlds biodiversity is located there. It appears that the potential impact or risk assessment discussion in DCs, if it is actually carried out, is based on scientific assumptions and clearly balances risks and benefits. It is also clear that the information needed to predict the impact in a particular case is not, and probably will not be, available. General strategies for risk and benefit assessment have been discussed in several workshops and meetings in DCs and clearly show that the potential benefits outweigh the potential ecological risks.

Keywords: Agriculture, biotechnology, biosafety, developing countries, transgenic crops, field release, impact assessment, research