Assessing the Impact of GMOs on the Environment
CSIRO researchers are exploring how a broad range of GMOs might impact on the environment at the landscape or ecosystem level
CSIRO is committed to examining the effects of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) on the environment.
This commitment was formalised in 2000, when a three-year project began, involving scientists from seven Divisions. This project was one of the activities carried out under the government’s National Biotechnology Strategy. Environment Australia provided part of the $3 million funding.
The aim is to explore how a broad range of GMOs might impact on the environment at the landscape or ecosystem level. It aimed to build research capabilities in this area and develop research tools to assess potential environmental risks of GMO uptake. Eventually the scientists hope to transfer the best of these tools to the regulators to help them in assessing whether new GMOs should be released.
Ecological risk assessment at the landscape level is a new research field worldwide and most of the work of the original project was aimed at establishing a better understanding of the scale and nature of issues relevant to the Australian environment.
The research team has worked on several GMOs for their case studies. These are:
Bt-cotton in large-scale crops
GM clover for temperate pastures
Plants containing viral sequences
Mice plague control.
Amongst the findings so far are the facts that:
Bt-cotton plants express Bt-toxin in small amounts through both their leaves and roots. The majority of this toxin degrades within 2-4 weeks of plant biomass being incorporated into leaf decomposition in soil. This means that in general, Bt-toxin from GM cotton will not have an adverse effect on the environment. However, research into the impact of the minority of Bt-toxin that may persist in the soil has not been done yet
There is an apparent increase in fungi and fungal spores found on Bt-cotton residues compared to non-Bt resides. We do not know yet whether this increase, if real, is good, neutral or harmful to the environment
GM subterranean clover poses little threat to native grasslands in Australia. It will survive less well than non-GM clover if it strays into native perennial grasslands but it may survive better in more disturbed, annual grassland communities
To help focus the continuing research a Joint Reference group has been established by CSIRO, the Department of the Environment and Heritage and the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator to identify priority areas for risk assessment research and seek out realistic case studies on which to test new methods.
The assessment team has also advised the Federal Government on the relevance to Australia of overseas studies of environmental impact of GMOs. The first of these has been farm-scale trials in the UK, reported in 2003.
(Taken from: http://www.csiro.au/pubgenesite/faqs.htm)