Abstract

Reference. Belgium VIB 2001
Title: Safety of Genetically Engineered Crops, March 2001
Authors: Custers, R. (ed)
Publisher: VIB, Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology, Rijvisschestraat 120, B-9052, Zwijnaarde, Belgium
Publication details: March 2001. 160p.

The report discusses how the risk assessment of genetically modified (GM) crops works and on what data the conclusions of authorities are based.  The report also discusses the issues for the safety assessment of future GM crops. The report was initiated as part of VIB’s mission to stimulate a scientifically well founded dialogue on biotechnology.

The VIB report discusses five safety issues: (1) food safety (toxicity), (2) vertical gene flow (outcrossing, superweeds), (3) unwanted effects on non-target organisms, (4) allergenicity, and (5) horizontal gene flow. For each issue, an overview is presented of the data and information used in the risk assessment of GM crops. 

The report concludes that the GM crops currently on the market are as safe as conventional varieties.  To guarantee this safety it is important to systematically apply a thorough risk assessment to future crops in which the 5 topics above are dealt with in detail. The report concludes that if the developments in the safety assessment of genetically engineered crops goes on at the same pace as today, in the future the situation may be such that GM crops may become safer than conventional crops.

The report also concludes that “a better definition of what types of environmental effects are acceptable, and how much uncertainty about the absence of unwanted environmental effects is acceptable can greatly help the risk assessment of both conventional and GM crops.  This would even be more so if this understanding would be translated into a set of broadly defined criteria for these crops”.  A 100% certainty or zero risk is impossible to achieve, and therefore we have to be more explicit about what safety level we want to achieve, placing GM crops into perspective with other technologies capable of producing new crop varieties.

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