Paradoxical EU agricultural policies on genetically engineered crops

Masip, G. Mirada; Sabalza, Maite; Pérez-Massot, Eduard; Banakar, Raviraj; Cebrián, David; Twyman, Richard M.; Capell, Teresa; Albajes, R.; Christou, Paul

doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2013.03.004

Cited by 61 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 58 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Legislation does not explicitly consider whether the deployment of GMOs fulfills wider socio-economic and ecological aspirations, [144] or meets other policy objectives. [142,145,146] Protection is often seen as preserving a baseline condition in Europe; it is not seen as improving the environment. In other words, a missed opportunity to improve the environment (e.g.…”

Section: Specifying Operational Protection Goalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated weed management systems with herbicide-tolerant crops in the European Union: lessons learnt from home and abroad

Lamichhane

Devos

Beckie

et al. 2016

Critical Reviews in Biotechnology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Conventionally bred (CHT) and genetically modified herbicide-tolerant (GMHT) crops have changed weed management practices and made an important contribution to the global production of some commodity crops. However, a concern is that farm management practices associated with the cultivation of herbicide-tolerant (HT) crops further deplete farmland biodiversity and accelerate the evolution of herbicide-resistant (HR) weeds. Diversification in crop systems and weed management practices can enhance farmland biodiversity, and reduce the risk of weeds evolving herbicide resistance. Therefore, HT crops are most effective and sustainable as a component of an integrated weed management (IWM) system. IWM advocates the use of multiple effective strategies or tactics to manage weed populations in a manner that is economically and environmentally sound. In practice, however, the potential benefits of IWM with HT crops are seldom realized because a wide range of technical and socio-economic factors hamper the transition to IWM. Here, we discuss the major factors that limit the integration of HT crops and their associated farm management practices in IWM systems. Based on the experience gained in countries where CHT or GMHT crops are widely grown and the increased familiarity with their management, we propose five actions to facilitate the integration of HT crops in IWM systems within the European Union.ARTICLE HISTORY

show abstract

Section: Specifying Operational Protection Goalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated weed management systems with herbicide-tolerant crops in the European Union: lessons learnt from home and abroad

Lamichhane

Devos

Beckie

et al. 2016

Critical Reviews in Biotechnology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Given the state of play surrounding the cultivation of agricultural GM crops, it is unlikely that we will see a pharmaceutical crop grown commercially in Europe any time soon (Masip et al 2013;Sparrow et al 2013). …”

Section: Europementioning

confidence: 99%

Introduction: Plant-Produced Protein Products

Hood

Christou

2014

Commercial Plant-Produced Recombinant Protein Products

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recombinant protein production in plants encompasses vaccines, pharmaceuticals, and industrial proteins. Within each of these categories are numerous products and host systems with applications to multiple diseases and industrial processes. This industry requires gene transfer from other organisms into plants and allows the plants to overproduce the proteins for the desired application.Several companies and university laboratories have had programs in plant expression of proteins over the past two decades. The plant biotechnology companies that are focused on production of those proteins are listed in Table 1.1. Significant effort has gone into developing these new products using several plant systems. The choice of system depends on many factors including the type of protein, the technology utilized, the platform of the company, and the funding source (Howard and Hood 2005). Several of these companies are still functional, and others have closed but reemerged as new entities.

show abstract

“…This has a particular impact on Africa, which is the largest recipient of European foreign aid and, at the same time, highly dependent on European market access for its agricultural export products [9]. In order to please their domestic constituencies, European governments made use of their political clout in Africa to export the European biosafety regulatory system that is based on a strong version of the precautionary principle (PP) meaning that no action should be taken unless there is certainty of no harm [10]; however, the EU's biosafety and food safety regulations are widely considered to be costly and ineffective when applied to GM crops [11]. The PP that guides risk management in Europe would, de jure, have to comply with the principles of non-discrimination and proportionality and should be considered provisional, as required by the WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Biotech crops were first commercialized in 1996.…”

Section: Resistance To Agricultural Biotechnology: the Importance Of mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The increasing regulatory burden to get GM crops approved may have actually made the public more anxious about the technology ("if so much regulation is necessary then there must really be something wrong with the technology"); and it definitely led to more industry concentration (because small companies are unable to cope with increased regulatory costs) and less innovation (many promising GM crops that would have been of great value to the environment and human nutrition have been shelved) [6,11]. Finally, an increasing amount of talented scientists in plant molecular biology are either leaving Europe or search for a job outside their field of expertise [15].…”

Section: Resistance To Agricultural Biotechnology: the Importance Of mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…J. 2013, 8, 1129-1132 www.biotechnology-journal.com conomy (KBBE) and recognizes the potential of genetically engineered (GE) crops to help delivering it [11]. One reason for the paradoxical situation is organized public resistance to genetic engineering in agriculture that is portrayed in the media channels as an expression of general public concern.…”

Section: Btj-forummentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation