GMO's in integrated plant production

risk assessment, biological control, IPM, monitoring, Bacillus thuringiensis, resistance management

Romeis J.

Bigler F.

Ramon Albajes, Detlef Bartsch (Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety, Germany), Franz Bigler, Alan Raybould (Syngenta, UK)

The group comprises over 100 participants representing scientists of public research institutions, industry and regulatory agencies. The aim is to organize workshops at 1.5 to 2 years intervals. In addition different activities in small subgroups are in preparation.

Genetically modified (GM) crops are grown commercially on steadily increasing areas worldwide. The two traits that have been commercialized today are insect resistance through the expression of cry genes derived from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt-crops) and herbicide tolerance (HT crops). The sustainable deployment of these GM crops and their potential environmental impact is hotly discussed both within the scientific community as well as in the public. The working group aims to provide a platform for open discussions among the different parties involved, namely public sector scientist, industry scientist, regulators, decision makers and NGOs.

Below are the objectives of the WG as they have been set at the kick-off meeting at which the WG was established (see Profile 34):

1. Exchange and dissemination of scientific knowledge on the ecological impact of genetically modified organisms
2. Evaluate the compatibility and integration of genetically modified organisms with biological control and IPM
3. Resistance management of the target organisms
4. Development and harmonisation of methods for testing the ecological impact of genetically modified organisms

The most important activity of the WG are the regularly held meetings. Each meeting will focus on a few selected topics. It is the goal to invite key note speakers to introduce the focus topics. The first WG meeting in Prague in 2003 tried to identify questions that should be addressed in the near future. Therefore 6 half-day long workshops on different subjects have been hold to identify areas of research. Reports of these workshops are included in the meeting proceedings (IOBC/WPRS Bulletin 27(3), 2004).
The second meeting took place from June 1-3 in Lleida , Spain ( http://www.eigmo.udl.es/). After the WG meeting, a satellite workshop was organized in lleida on June 4, 2005 , to discuss ‘Non-Target Risk Assessment of GM Crops and Regulation’. A report from this workshop is included in the meetings proceedings (IOBC/WPRS Bulletin 29(5), 2006).

The next full working group meeting will be held in Warsaw , Poland , from 23-25 May 2007. Local organizer will be Zbigniew Dabrowski from the Department of Applied Entomology, Warsaw Agricultural University ( SGGW).

IOBC/WPRS Bulletin Vol. 27 (3) 2004, 215 pp., table of contents and abstracts (PDF, 64 KB)
In addition a report of the first WG meeting has been published as: Romeis J (2004) Conference report - IOBC/wprs working group meeting 'Ecological Impact of Genetically Modified Organisms'. Biocontrol News and Information 25(1), 15N-16N (PDF, 92 KB).

IOBC/WPRS Bulletin Vol. 29 (5) 2006, 200 pp., table of contents and abstracts (PDF, 388 KB)
IOBC/WPRS Bulletin Vol. 33, 2008, 158 pp., table of contents (PDF, 115 KB)

Romeis J.