|
> Wissenschaftliche Publikationen <
|
Biosafety of transgenic crop plants. Proceedings of the Indian National Science Academy Part B Biological Sciences 64, 293-318.
| Bhatia C.R., Mitra, R. (1998).
| The review examines the concerns that have been raised regarding the environmental biosafety of the transgenic plants, and food items obtained from them. Transgenic crops were grown over an area exceeding 12 million h during 1997, mainly in USA, China, Argentina, Canada, Australia and Mexico. Over 25000 field trials have been conducted in 45 countries in all five continents. Early data on the benefits realized from commercial cultivation of transgenic crops in 1996 indicate considerable benefits, besides increase in yield and saving on inputs. Genes of a large variety from global biodiversity of microbes, plants and animals, which were previously outside of the gene pool of the crop species, are being introduced, and expressed, in the crop plants to improve them for human use. More than 30 such transgenes have been introduced into rice-the principal food of nearly half of the world population, grown mainly in the developing countries. The major risks perceived from transgenic plants are: increased weediness; transgene flow into different cultivars, related species, and horizontal transfer into other organisms; possibilities of the development of new viruses with wider host range on virus resistant plants; effects of pesticidal products on non-target species from plants developed for insect and disease resistance; safety of food items obtained from such plants; and unforeseen effects. The occurrences of events leading to the other environmental risks following commercial cultivation, except for the gene flow, are extremely low, and not different from what is possible in nature. These risks are manageable, and the benefits far outweigh the risks. Gene flow into other cultivars grown in the neighbouring fields will be high, as the land holdings in most developing countries are small. Having accepted the safety of crops with single transgenes, in future, many different transgenes improving agronomic, quality and resistance traits would be combined by hybridization intolocally adapted "super" cultivars. The benefits to the society from such crop cultivars, with multiple resistance's and other desirable traits, will depend upon the response of the regulatory frame work to the future scenario. Basic issues, from the evolutionary point of view, relate to human intervention in redesigning the crop genomes, blending genes from different organisms, not feasible in nature, and possible, unplanned flow of such genes into natural ecosystems.
| | Zurück |
|
|
Interviews mit Forschern
Erfahren Sie mehr über einzelne Forschungsprojekte und die Leute, die dahinterstehen. | 
Gentechnik im Klassenzimmer
Aufgaben zum Thema Gentechnik, die in den Schulunterricht integriert werden können. | 
Genomik und Proteomik
Wie man heute die Gene und Proteine eines Organismus untersucht. | 
Forschungseinblicke
Verfolgen Sie die Arbeit an aktuellen Projekten, z.B. am Weizen, Fadenwurm oder in der Krebsforschung. |
|
