Chapter 8 - Ecological Assessment of Crops Derived through Biotechnology

Abstract

This chapter discusses risk assessment of crops derived through biotechnology. Risk assessment is an important tool that has been developed to help individuals make informed decisions about the impacts from their human-based activities on people and society. It is new as a formal, science-based discipline, but has become fundamental to decision making in many industries and government activities. The chapter focuses on an approach to build an ecological risk assessment framework for genetically modified plants merging the concepts developed by the National Research Council and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with principles outlined elsewhere on ecological risk assessment specific to biotechnology. The chapter also explains key terminology and provides several examples of how the principles of ecological risk assessment can be applied to plants derived through biotechnology. A background on risk assessment with relevance to biotechnology is provided. Terms and phrases with relation to ecological risk assessment are explained. The chapter discusses ecological risk assessment principles and principles specific to genetically modified plants (GMPs), presents an ecological risk assessment model for GMPs, and describes tiered assessment for evaluating risk, measures of effects within tiers, risk characterization, risk management, and future research needs.