ASSESSING THE RISKS OF INVASION FOR GENETICALLY-ENGINEERED PLANTS - ACCEPTABLE EVIDENCE AND REASONABLE DOUBT

Agricultural biotechnology has generated concern over the risk of prod ucing new invasive species or exacerbating current weed problems. In t his paper, we introduce the regulatory context for assessing invasiven ess of genetically engineered organisms in the United Stares and revie w the evidence presented by companies arguing for deregulation of part icular transgenic crops. The context of invasion ecology is then used to discuss the nature of acceptable evidence for a finding of 'no risk '; we focus in particular on the role of experimental data. We review recent experiments designed to assess the risk of genetically enginee red crops, including our own work with oil-modified canola Brassica na pus, and offer guidelines for the design and interpretation of such ex periments. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Limited