Références sur les Plantes

maize, canola, potato, rice, and tobacco. In order to be included in the database, a study had to meet a number of criteria. Specifi cally, studies had to: 1. involve a fi eld crop genetically transformed to express one or more cry genes derived from Bacillus thuringiensis; 2. measure effects of the transformed crop or its gene product for one or more groups of non-target invertebrates; 3. include a comparison to a non-transgenic control or a range of exposure levels to the transgenic plant or plant products (e.g. pollen); and 4. be written in English.

For each study, we recorded information about the Bt crop, the nontarget organism, and the control treatment.

We also recorded study location, plot sizes, study duration, sampling method, and other methodological details.

We then applied meta-analytical techniques to summarize the weight of evidence regarding the non-target risks of Bt crops.

Results A meta-analysis of 42 field experiments indicated that nontarget invertebrates are generally more abundant in Bt cotton and Bt maize fi elds than in nontransgenic fi elds managed with insecticides. However, in comparison with insecticide-free control fields, certain nontarget taxa are less abundant in Bt fi elds. A separate metaanalysis of 25 laboratory studies found that Bt Cry proteins do not negatively affect the survival of honey bee larvae or adults. A third meta-analysis of fi eld studies comparing the abundance of predators, parasitoids, omnivores, detritivores and herbivores in Bt crops to their non-transgenic counterparts found that predators were negatively affected in Bt cotton compared to unsprayed non-Bt controls, and that this effect was driven by reductions in two predaceous families. In addition, fewer parasitoids were observed in Bt maize fi elds compared to unsprayed non-Bt controls, but this pattern was driven entirely by expected reductions in a specialist parasitoid of the main target pest of Bt maize. Otherwise, Bt fi elds generally had abundances of nontarget arthropods similar to those found in unsprayed control fi elds.

Discussion There is much discussion about all the experience and trials and tests that have been done to assess the safety of genetically modified crops, but there is no single place for concerned citizens or even scientists to turn to in order to see if they are themselves convinced by the accumulated evidence. We believe that creating large openaccess databases that include data from all relevant risk assessment studies is the future of risk assessment.

With such databases at hand, the power of meta-analysis and of a global community of scientists can be turned loose.

Meta-analyses have the potential to move the debate about the safety of genetically modifi ed crops beyond a situation in which competing sides argue that ―study X shows this‖ only to be countered with ―yes, but studies y and z show the opposite.‖ Indeed, no single study should, by itself, be taken too seriously until other studies have confi rmed the fi ndings. Yet there are so many scientists doing so many different experiments and risk assessments that the information has the potential to overwhelm decision makers or cause the debate to zig-zag around. If meta-analyses and large databases of completed studies were to become a routine part of risk assessment, then there would not be the distraction of single experiments capturing media attention and inappropriately alarming or comforting the public and policy makers. An investment in the creation and maintenance of risk assessment databases will have high payoff in terms of improved transparency, increased public confi dence in the process, and more rapid advancement of scientifi c understanding.

URL: http://www.isbgmo.info/assets_/isbgmo_symposium_handbook.pdf Author Address: Environmental Studies Institute, Santa Clara University, USA XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Author: Masura, Subhi Siti; Parveez, Ghulam Kadir Ahmad; Ismail, Ismanizan Year: 2010 Title: * Isolation and characterization of oil palm constitutive promoter derived from ubiquitin extension protein (uep1) gene.

Journal: New Biotechnology 27, 4, 289-299.

Special issue on Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology: number 4 Date: 2010/9/30/ Keywords: Composition Expression Bioengineering