Professional Documents
Culture Documents
K
Ames, Iowa. www.cast-science.org packaged information on crop
Technology concluded that the Felsot, AS. 2000. Herbicide tolerant genes: Part 1: biotechnology products and related
environment benefits from the use of Squaring up Roundup Ready crops. issues available at your fingertips.
HT crops. In the US, for example, no- Agrichemical and Environmental News. 173:8- They are produced by the Global No. 10
15. Knowledge Center on Crop
till soybean acreage has increased by Extension Toxicology Network. 1996. Pesticide
35% since the introduction of HT Biotechnology (http://www.isaaa.org/
information profile, Glyphosate. http://
soybean. A similar trend is observed in kc). For more information, please
ace.ace.orst.edu/info/extoxnet/pips/
glyphosa.htm contact the International Service for the
Argentina whose soybean fields are
2000. Consensus document glyphosate herbicide Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications
98% planted with HT varieties. The
tolerance (Roundup). OECD-OCDE BioTrack (ISAAA) SEAsiaCenter c/o IRRI, DAPO
CAST paper entitled “Comparative Box 7777, Metro Manila, Philippines
Online. http://www1.oecd.org/ehs/ehsmono/
Environmental Impacts of roundup1.htm Tel: +63-2-845 0563 HERBICIDE TOLERANCE
Biotechnology-derived and Traditional 2001. ASA study confirms enviromental benefits of Fax: +63-2-845 0606
Soybean, Corn and Cotton Crops” is biotech soybeans. American Soybean E-mail: knowledge.center@isaaa.org
TECHNOLOGY:
Association. http://www.asa-europe.org/pdf/
available at http://www.cast-science.org
ctstudy.pdf
First Printing, December 2002
Glyphosate & Glufosinate
2002. Module II: Herbicide biochemistry, herbicide-
metabolism and the residues in glufosinate-
REFERENCES ammonium (Phosphinothricin)-tolerant
transgenic crops. http://www.olis.oecd.org/olis/
2002. Essential Biosafety. Agriculture and 2002doc.nsf/
Biotechnology Strategies, Inc. 43bb6130e5e86e5fc12569fa005d004c/
Carpenter, JE and LP Gianessi. 2001. Agricultural c351fd9d795e54c1c1256bae0051a2a8/$FILE/
biotechnology: Updated benefits estimates. JT00125605.PDF
National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy. Dale, PJ, B Clarke, and EMG Fontes. 2002.
Carpenter, JE, A Felsot, T Goode, M Hammig, D Potential for the environmental impact of INTERNATIONAL SERVICE
Onstad and S Sankula. 2002. Comparative transgenic crops. Nature Biotechnology. 20. p- FOR THE ACQUISITION Global Knowledge Center
OF AGRI-BIOTECH
Environmental Impacts of Biotechnology-derived 567-574.
APPLICATIONS
on Crop Biotechnology
Technology Background Safety Aspects of Herbicide Tolerance Technology
tolerant. One strategy is to incorporate
How do these herbicides work? a soil bacterium gene that produces a the alteration of an already existing enzyme,
Toxicity and Allergenicity
These herbicides target key enzymes in the glyphosate-tolerant form of EPSPS. no other metabolic changes occur in the
Government regulatory agencies in several
plant metabolic pathway, which disrupt Another way is to incorporate a countries have ruled that crops possessing plant.
plant food production and eventually kill it. different soil bacterium gene that herbicide-tolerant conferring proteins do not
So how do plants elicit tolerance to produces a glyphosate degrading pose any other environmental and health
herbicides? Some may have acquired the enzyme. risks as compared to their non-GM
trait through selection or mutation; or more Persistence or invasiveness
counterparts.
recently, plants may be modified through 2. Glufosinate-tolerant crops of crops
genetic engineering. Glufosinate herbicides contain the A major environmental concern associated
active ingredient phosphinothricin, with herbicide-tolerant crops is their potential
Why develop HT crops? which kills plants by blocking the to create new weeds through outcrossing
What is new is the ability to create a degree enzyme responsible for nitrogen with wild relatives or simply by persisting in
of tolerance to broad-spectrum herbicides - metabolism and for detoxifying the wild themselves. This potential, however,
in particular glyphosate and glufosinate - is assessed prior to introduction and is also
ammonia, a by-product of plant
monitored after the crop is planted. The
which will control most other green plants. metabolism. Crops modified to tolerate
current scientific evidence indicates that, in
These two herbicides are useful for weed glufosinate contain a bacterial gene
USDA PHOTO
the absence of herbicide applications, GM
control and have minimal direct impact on that produces an enzyme that herbicide-tolerant crops are no more likely to
animal life, and are not persistent. They are detoxifies phosphonothricin and be invasive in agricultural fields or in natural
highly effective and among the safest of prevents it from doing damage. habitats than their non-GM counterparts
agrochemicals to use. Unfortunately, they (Dale et al., 2002).
are equally effective against crop plants. Other methods by which crops are
Introduced proteins are assessed for
genetically modified to survive exposure potential toxic and allergenic activity in The herbicide-tolerant crops currently in the
How do Glyphosate and Glufosinate HT to herbicides including: 1) producing a accordance with guidelines developed by market show little evidence of enhanced
crops work? new protein that detoxifies the herbicide; relevant international organizations. They are persistence or invasiveness.
1. Glyphosate-tolerant crops 2) modifying the herbicide’s target protein from sources with no history of allergenicity
Glyphosate herbicide kills plants by so that it will not be affected by the