Risk Assessment and Regulation of Transgenic Crops With a Particular Focus on Pesticides Applied to These Crops

摘要

The area planted with transgenic crops has been expanding since their first large-scale introduction in 1996. Transgenic crops incorporate traits that are mainly associated with herbicide resistance, predominantly glyphosate and glufosinate resistances, and insect resistance achieved through the presence of transgenic Cry proteins. The adoption of transgenic crops carrying such traits is likely to have an impact on the pattern and volume of pesticides used in agriculture worldwide and therefore raise potential practical and safety issues. These issues are being addressed as part of the regulatory approval procedures of pesticides adopted by the various nations. In addition, before being permitted for commercial use, the genetically modified crops themselves undergo a safety assessment, including molecular characteristics of the genetic modification and the history of safe use of the host crop, potential toxicity and allergenicity, unintended effects, horizontal gene transfer, and nutritional characteristics. An additional important feature of the pre-market safety assessment of transgenic crops, especially for the herbicide-resistant traits, is the pesticide residues assessment which is currently carried out under general pesticide registration procedures. When setting international maximum residue limits for pesticides in crops, it is assumed that there is no distinction between transgenic and non-transgenic crops. A recently initiated study aims to review data on the chemical residues on food products derived from transgenic crops.