Safety of Genetically Engineered Foods

Safety of Genetically Engineered Foods
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 254
Release: 2004-07-08
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309166152

Assists policymakers in evaluating the appropriate scientific methods for detecting unintended changes in food and assessing the potential for adverse health effects from genetically modified products. In this book, the committee recommended that greater scrutiny should be given to foods containing new compounds or unusual amounts of naturally occurring substances, regardless of the method used to create them. The book offers a framework to guide federal agencies in selecting the route of safety assessment. It identifies and recommends several pre- and post-market approaches to guide the assessment of unintended compositional changes that could result from genetically modified foods and research avenues to fill the knowledge gaps.

Genetically Engineered Crops

Genetically Engineered Crops
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 607
Release: 2017-01-28
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309437385

Genetically engineered (GE) crops were first introduced commercially in the 1990s. After two decades of production, some groups and individuals remain critical of the technology based on their concerns about possible adverse effects on human health, the environment, and ethical considerations. At the same time, others are concerned that the technology is not reaching its potential to improve human health and the environment because of stringent regulations and reduced public funding to develop products offering more benefits to society. While the debate about these and other questions related to the genetic engineering techniques of the first 20 years goes on, emerging genetic-engineering technologies are adding new complexities to the conversation. Genetically Engineered Crops builds on previous related Academies reports published between 1987 and 2010 by undertaking a retrospective examination of the purported positive and adverse effects of GE crops and to anticipate what emerging genetic-engineering technologies hold for the future. This report indicates where there are uncertainties about the economic, agronomic, health, safety, or other impacts of GE crops and food, and makes recommendations to fill gaps in safety assessments, increase regulatory clarity, and improve innovations in and access to GE technology.

Gene Drives on the Horizon

Gene Drives on the Horizon
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 231
Release: 2016-08-28
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309437873

Research on gene drive systems is rapidly advancing. Many proposed applications of gene drive research aim to solve environmental and public health challenges, including the reduction of poverty and the burden of vector-borne diseases, such as malaria and dengue, which disproportionately impact low and middle income countries. However, due to their intrinsic qualities of rapid spread and irreversibility, gene drive systems raise many questions with respect to their safety relative to public and environmental health. Because gene drive systems are designed to alter the environments we share in ways that will be hard to anticipate and impossible to completely roll back, questions about the ethics surrounding use of this research are complex and will require very careful exploration. Gene Drives on the Horizon outlines the state of knowledge relative to the science, ethics, public engagement, and risk assessment as they pertain to research directions of gene drive systems and governance of the research process. This report offers principles for responsible practices of gene drive research and related applications for use by investigators, their institutions, the research funders, and regulators.

Animal Biotechnology

Animal Biotechnology
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2002-11-29
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 030916933X

Genetic-based animal biotechnology has produced new food and pharmaceutical products and promises many more advances to benefit humankind. These exciting prospects are accompanied by considerable unease, however, about matters such as safety and ethics. This book identifies science-based and policy-related concerns about animal biotechnologyâ€"key issues that must be resolved before the new breakthroughs can reach their potential. The book includes a short history of the field and provides understandable definitions of terms like cloning. Looking at technologies on the near horizon, the authors discuss what we know and what we fear about their effectsâ€"the inadvertent release of dangerous microorganisms, the safety of products derived from biotechnology, the impact of genetically engineered animals on their environment. In addition to these concerns, the book explores animal welfare concerns, and our societal and institutional capacity to manage and regulate the technology and its products. This accessible volume will be important to everyone interested in the implications of the use of animal biotechnology.

Genetically Modified Organisms and Regulations Concerning Biotechnological Products

Genetically Modified Organisms and Regulations Concerning Biotechnological Products
Author: Iraz Haspolat Kaya
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 140
Release: 2020-01-28
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1527546403

Today, the world’s population is growing, but the amount of arable land is decreasing. About 820 million people around the world are suffering from hunger. On the other side, agricultural mega-companies are making billions of dollars from growing genetically modified organisms (GMOs). GMOs grow faster and in greater numbers. This book investigates many concerns resulting from the demand for these products and the legal perspectives surrounding these products.

Preparing for Future Products of Biotechnology

Preparing for Future Products of Biotechnology
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 231
Release: 2017-07-28
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309452058

Between 1973 and 2016, the ways to manipulate DNA to endow new characteristics in an organism (that is, biotechnology) have advanced, enabling the development of products that were not previously possible. What will the likely future products of biotechnology be over the next 5â€"10 years? What scientific capabilities, tools, and/or expertise may be needed by the regulatory agencies to ensure they make efficient and sound evaluations of the likely future products of biotechnology? Preparing for Future Products of Biotechnology analyzes the future landscape of biotechnology products and seeks to inform forthcoming policy making. This report identifies potential new risks and frameworks for risk assessment and areas in which the risks or lack of risks relating to the products of biotechnology are well understood.

GMOs Decoded

GMOs Decoded
Author: Sheldon Krimsky
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 215
Release: 2019-03-12
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0262039192

The debate over genetically modified organisms: health and safety concerns, environmental impact, and scientific opinions. Since they were introduced to the market in the late 1990s, GMOs (genetically modified organisms, including genetically modified crops), have been subject to a barrage of criticism. Agriculture has welcomed this new technology, but public opposition has been loud and scientific opinion mixed. In GMOs Decoded, Sheldon Krimsky examines the controversies over GMOs—health and safety concerns, environmental issues, the implications for world hunger, and the scientific consensus (or lack of one). He explores the viewpoints of a range of GMO skeptics, from public advocacy groups and nongovernmental organizations to scientists with differing views on risk and environmental impact. Krimsky explains the differences between traditional plant breeding and “molecular breeding” through genetic engineering (GE); describes early GMO products, including the infamous Flavr Savr tomato; and discusses herbicide-, disease-, and insect-resistant GE plants. He considers the different American and European approaches to risk assessment, dueling scientific interpretations of plant genetics, and the controversy over labeling GMO products. He analyzes a key 2016 report from the National Academies of Sciences on GMO health effects and considers the controversy over biofortified rice (Golden Rice)—which some saw as a humanitarian project and others as an exercise in public relations. Do GMO crops hold promise or peril? By offering an accessible review of the risks and benefits of GMO crops, and a guide to the controversies over them, Krimsky helps readers judge for themselves.

An Explanatory Guide to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety

An Explanatory Guide to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety
Author: Ruth Mackenzie
Publisher: IUCN
Total Pages: 315
Release: 2003
Genre: Biodiversity conservation
ISBN: 2831706718

This guide has been prepared by the IUCN Environmental Law Programme and the Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development (FIELD), in cooperation with the World Resources Institute (WRI). The main goal of the guide is to facilitate the understanding of the obligations of Parties to the Protocol, by providing an information base on the content and origin of the Protocol provisions, accessible to the non-specialist and useful for those who will be involved in the development and implementation of national safety frameworks.