Conventionally altered organisms: Database on survival, dispersal, fate, and pathogenicity.

摘要

Although increases in development and sales of biotechnology are projected, research on the risks associated with deliberate releases of biotechnology products lags behind. Thus, there is an urgent need to provide investigators and regulators with guidelines for classifying and evaluating risks associated with the release of genetically engineered microorganisms (GEMs). If the release of GEMs into the environmental poses risks similar to that of releasing conventionally altered organisms (CAOs), then a study evaluating the hazards associated with environmentally released CAOs would be most useful. This paper provides a survey of the available data on survival, dispersal, pathogenicity, and other characteristics which affect the fate of microbes after release. Although the present study is not exhaustive, it does provide an indication of the type and amount of data available on CAOs. 350 refs.