Assessment of the safety of foods derived from genetically modified (GM) crops

König, Ariane; Cockburn, Andrew; Crevel, René; Debruyne, E.; Grafstroem, R.; Hammerling, Ulf; Kimber, Ian; Knudsen, Ib; Kuiper, H.A.; Peijnenburg, Ad; Penninks, André; Poulsen, Morten; Schauzu, M.; Wal, Jean‐Michel

doi:10.1016/j.fct.2004.02.019

Cited by 301 publications

(173 citation statements)

References 94 publications

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“…When genetic engineering of plants was first being developed, it was hypothesized that this technology might induce potentially unintended changes that affect food or feed safety-for example, by activating previously dormant pathways in the plant (Kessler et al, 1992). As a result, extensive regulatory requirements for GM crops, which use a comparative safety assessment process, are now in place (König et al, 2004;Cellini et al, 2004;EFSA, 2006;Paoletti et al, 2008;CODEX, 2009;Privalle et al, 2012;Hoekenga et al, 2013;Prado et al, 2014). Since that time, numerous studies have found that GM varieties are compositionally equivalent to conventional crops Herman and Price, 2013;Hoekenga et al, 2013;Ricroch, 2013;Xu et al, 2014;Ladics et al, 2015aLadics et al, , 2015bCurran et al, 2015;Venkatesh et al, 2015Venkatesh et al, , 2016.…”

Section: Plant Selection Practices Minimize Unsafe Unintended Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bringing New Plant Varieties to Market: Plant Breeding and Selection Practices Advance Beneficial Characteristics while Minimizing Unintended Changes

et al. 2017

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Commercial‐scale plant breeding is a complex process in which new crop varieties are continuously being developed to improve yield and agronomic performance over current varieties. A wide array of naturally occurring genetic changes are sources of new characteristics available to plant breeders. During conventional plant breeding, genetic material is exchanged that has the potential to beneficially or adversely affect plant characteristics. For this reason, commercial‐scale breeders have implemented extensive plant selection practices to identify the top‐performing candidates with the desired characteristics while minimizing the advancement of unintended changes. Selection practices in maize (Zea mays L.) breeding involve phenotypic assessments of thousands of candidate lines throughout hundreds of different environmental conditions over many years. Desirable characteristics can also be introduced through genetic modification. For genetically modified (GM) crops, molecular analysis is used to select transformed plants with a single copy of an intact DNA insert and without disruption of endogenous genes. All the while, GM crops go through the same extensive phenotypic characterization as conventionally bred crops. Data from both conventional and GM maize breeding programs are presented to show the similarities between these two processes.

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Section: Plant Selection Practices Minimize Unsafe Unintended Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bringing New Plant Varieties to Market: Plant Breeding and Selection Practices Advance Beneficial Characteristics while Minimizing Unintended Changes

et al. 2017

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“…The conventional counterparts were generally taken to have a history of safe use, allowing them to serve as baseline in the comparison of their chemical composition and phenotypic characteristics to those of GM foodstuffs (Kok and Kuiper, 2003;König et al, 2004;Levidow et al, 2007;Millstone et al, 1999;Schenkelaars, 2002). Societal concerns and EU regulatory frame on GM crops…”

Section: Regulation 258/97 On Novel Foods and Novel Food Ingredientsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The interplay between societal concerns and the regulatory frame on GM crops in the European Union

Devos

Reheul

Waele

et al. 2006

Environ. Biosafety Res.

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Recapitulating how genetic modification technology and its agro-food products aroused strong societal opposition in the European Union, this paper demonstrates how this opposition contributed to shape the European regulatory frame on GM crops. More specifically, it describes how this opposition contributed to a de facto moratorium on the commercialization of new GM crop events in the end of the nineties. From this period onwards, the regulatory frame has been continuously revised in order to slow down further erosion of public and market confidence. Various scientific and technical reforms were made to meet societal concerns relating to the safety of GM crops. In this context, the precautionary principle, environmental post-market monitoring and traceability were adopted as ways to cope with scientific uncertainties. Labeling, traceability, co-existence and public information were installed in an attempt to meet the general public request for more information about GM agro-food products, and the specific demand to respect the consumers' and farmers' freedom of choice. Despite these efforts, today, the explicit role of public participation and/or ethical consultation during authorization procedures is at best minimal. Moreover, no legal room was created to progress to an integral sustainability evaluation during market procedures. It remains to be seen whether the recent policy shift towards greater transparency about value judgments, plural viewpoints and scientific uncertainties will be one step forward in integrating ethical concerns more explicitly in risk analysis. As such, the regulatory frame stands open for further interpretation, reflecting in various degrees a continued interplay with societal concerns relating to GM agro-food products. In this regard, both societal concerns and diversely interpreted regulatory criteria can be inferred as signaling a request -and even a quest -to render more explicit the broader-than-scientific dimension of the actual risk analysis.

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“…close nutritional and chemical similarity between a genetically modified (GM) crop and a non-GM counterpart) has been used to claim that GM crops are substantially equivalent to, and therefore as safe and nutritious as, currently consumed plant-derived foods (Aumaitre 2002;Konig et al 2004). However, we argue that compositional studies that have overlooked (not measured) pesticide residues contain serious shortcomings.…”

Section: Residues Of Pesticides In the Soymentioning

confidence: 99%

Are Ready for Market Genetically Modified, Conventional and Organic Soybeans Substantially Equivalent as Food and Feed?

Bøhn

Cuhra

Traavik

et al. 2016

Genetically Modified Organisms in Food

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SummaryImportant compositional elements, including residues of herbicides, were investigated in commercial soy varieties grown within the same geographical area. These included genetically modified, conventional and organic soybeans. Feed made from these soybeans was subsequently fed to the model organism Daphnia magna, while measuring the fitness performance (survival, growth and reproduction) during the full life cycle of the animals. The conventional and organic samples contained no residues of glyphosate or its degradation product AMPA, but the GM-soy contained such residues, averaging 9.0 mg/kg. The fitness of D. magna fed organic soybeans was superior to that of animals fed GM soybeans, while animals fed conventional soybeans was intermediate. There were large fitness differences for D. magna fed raw soybeans, but smaller with heat-treated soy. In conclusion: herbicides associated with GM soybeans (and/or other factors associated with these crops) may compromise food and feed quality.

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Assessment of the safety of foods derived from genetically modified (GM) crops

Cited by 301 publications

References 94 publications

Bringing New Plant Varieties to Market: Plant Breeding and Selection Practices Advance Beneficial Characteristics while Minimizing Unintended Changes

Bringing New Plant Varieties to Market: Plant Breeding and Selection Practices Advance Beneficial Characteristics while Minimizing Unintended Changes

The interplay between societal concerns and the regulatory frame on GM crops in the European Union

Are Ready for Market Genetically Modified, Conventional and Organic Soybeans Substantially Equivalent as Food and Feed?

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