A framework for a European network for a systematic environmental impact assessment of genetically modified organisms (GMO)

Graef, Frieder; Roembke, Joerg; Binimelis, Rosa; Myhr, Anne I.; Hilbeck, Angelika; Breckling, Broder; Dalgaard, Tommy; Stachow, Ulrich; Catacora, Georgina V.; B&#248;hn, Thomas.; Quist, David; Darvas, B&#233;la; Dudel, Gert; Oehen, Bernadette; Meyer, Hartmut; Henle, Klaus; Wynne, Brian,; Metzger, Marc; Kn&#228;be, Silvio; Settele, Josef; Sz&#233;k&#225;cs, Andr&#225;s; Wurbs, Angelika; Bernard, Jeannette; Murphy-Bokern, Donal; Buiatti, Marcello; Giovannetti, Manuela; Debeljak, Marko; Andersen, Erling; Paetz, Andreas; Dzeroski, Saso; Tappeser, Beatrix; Gestel, Cornelis A. M. van; Wosniok, Werner; S&#233;ralini, Gilles-Eric; Aslaksen, Iulie; Pesch, Roland; Maly, Stanislav; Werner, Armin

doi:10.3897/biorisk.7.1969

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Article: A framework for a European network for a systematic environmental impact assessment of genetically modified organisms (GMO)

Title

A framework for a European network for a systematic environmental impact assessment of genetically modified organisms (GMO)

By

Graef, Frieder Roembke, Joerg Binimelis, Rosa Myhr, Anne I. Hilbeck, Angelika Breckling, Broder Dalgaard, Tommy Stachow, Ulrich Catacora, Georgina V. Bøhn, Thomas. Quist, David Darvas, Béla Dudel, Gert Oehen, Bernadette Meyer, Hartmut Henle, Klaus Wynne, Brian, Metzger, Marc Knäbe, Silvio Settele, Josef Székács, Wurbs, Angelika Bernard, Jeannette Murphy-Bokern, Donal Buiatti, Marcello Giovannetti, Manuela Debeljak, Marko Andersen, Erling Paetz, Andreas Dzeroski, Saso Tappeser, Beatrix Gestel, Cornelis A. M. van Wosniok, Werner Séralini, Gilles-Eric Aslaksen, Iulie Pesch, Roland Maly, Stanislav Werner, Armin

1947-

András

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2012

Original Publication

BioRisk : biodiversity & ecosystem risk assessment

Volume

Pages

73-97

Subjects

environmental risk assessment , field testing network , GM crops , post-market environmental monitoring , socio-economic impact assessment , stakeholder involvement , typology of EU agro-environment

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/biorisk.7.1969

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License Type URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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Rights Holder: Copyright held by individual article author(s).

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expand Abstract

The assessment of the impacts of growing genetically modified (GM) crops remains a major political and scientific challenge in Europe. Concerns have been raised by the evidence of adverse and unexpected environmental effects and differing opinions on the outcomes of environmental risk assessments (ERA). The current regulatory system is hampered by insufficiently developed methods for GM crop safety testing and introduction studies. Improvement to the regulatory system needs to address the lack of well designed GM crop monitoring frameworks, professional and financial conflicts of interest within the ERA research and testing community, weaknesses in consideration of stakeholder interests and specific regional conditions, and the lack of comprehensive assessments that address the environmental and socio-economic risk assessment interface. To address these challenges, we propose a European Network for systematic GMO impact assessment (ENSyGMO) with the aim directly to enhance ERA and post-market environmental monitoring (PMEM) of GM crops, to harmonize and ultimately secure the long-term socio-political impact of the ERA process and the PMEM in the EU. These goals would be achieved with a multi-dimensional and multi-sector approach to GM crop impact assessment, targeting the variability and complexity of the EU agro-environment and the relationship with relevant socio-economic factors. Specifically, we propose to develop and apply methodologies for both indicator and field site selection for GM crop ERA and PMEM, embedded in an EU-wide typology of agro-environments. These methodologies should be applied in a pan-European field testing network using GM crops. The design of the field experiments and the sampling methodology at these field sites should follow specific hypotheses on GM crop effects and use state-of-the art sampling, statistics and modelling approaches. To address public concerns and create confidence in the ENSyGMO results, actors with relevant specialist knowledge from various sectors should be involved.