Abstract
In 2003, the European Commission established the principle of coexistence which refers to “the ability of farmers to make a practical choice between conventional, organic and GM-crop production, in compliance with the legal obligations for labelling and/or purity standards” and laid down guidelines defining the context of this coexistence1. In order to determine what is needed for the sustainable introduction of GM crops in Europe, the cross-disciplinary SIGMEA Research Project was set up to create a science-based framework to inform decision-makers. SIGMEA has (i) collated and analysed European data on gene flow and the environmental impacts of the major crop species which are likely to be transgenic in the future (maize, rapeseed, sugar beet, rice, and wheat), (ii) designed predictive models of gene flow at the landscape level, (iii) analysed the technical feasibility and economic impacts of coexistence in the principal farming regions of Europe, (iv) developed novel GMO detection methods, (v) addressed legal issues related to coexistence, and (vi) proposed public and farm scale decisionmaking tools, as well as guidelines regarding management and governance. This publishable version of the final activity report of the FP6 SIGMEA research project, covers the fourteen major issues under investigation.
Highlights
Genetically-modified (GM) plants are widely cultivated throughout North and South America, as well as to a lesser extent in Asia
In 2003, the European Commission established the principle of coexistence which refers to “the ability of farmers to make a practical choice between conventional, organic and GM-crop production, in compliance with the legal obligations for labelling and/or purity standards” and laid down guidelines defining the context of this coexistence1
SIGMEA has (i) collated and analysed European data on gene flow and the environmental impacts of the major crop species which are likely to be transgenic in the future, (ii) designed predictive models of gene flow at the landscape level, (iii) analysed the technical feasibility and economic impacts of coexistence in the principal farming regions of Europe, (iv) developed novel GMO detection methods, (v) addressed legal issues related to coexistence, and (vi) proposed public and farm scale decisionmaking tools, as well as guidelines regarding management and governance
Summary
Genetically-modified (GM) plants are widely cultivated throughout North and South America, as well as to a lesser extent in Asia. The potential for adventitious presence of GM material in non-GM oilseed rape production is: – moderate for cross-pollination between fields, which can be managed through spatial separation and use of buffer or discard zones where crops are in close proximity; – high through seedbanks resulting in volunteer populations that admix with and pollinate non-GM crops – volunteers are ubiquitous, mobile and commonly in high abundance and are of maximum importance to coexistence over time (when non-GM OSR is to be grown after a GM OSR in the same field); – moderate through wild relatives in those localised areas of Europe where they occur in high abundance in the fields (e.g., B. rapa in Denmark); – low through ferals (with some local exceptions) because of their low overall density compared to crops and volunteers in the landscape.
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