&CHAPTER 13

Field Testing of Transgenic Plants

DETLEF BARTSCH and ACHIM GATHMANN

Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety, Berlin, Germany

CHRISTIANE SAEGLITZ

Institute of Environmental Research, Aachen University, Germany

ARTI SINHA

Department of Biology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

13.0. CHAPTER SUMMARY AND OBJECTIVES

13.0.1 Summary

When companies or academic labs develop transgenic plants with proven traits, they must

assess growth and yield under field conditions. In addition, environmental risk analysis

experiments are also commonly performed in the field. A tiered assessment is recognized

as being the most appropriate and rigorous approach to assess environmental and economic

effects from both scientific and regulatory standpoints. Field design and statistical consider-

ations are described here to assess the performance of transgenic plants using transgenic

corn as an exemplary case study.

13.0.2 Discussion Questions

1. What are the two overarching objectives for field testing of transgenic plants?


2. What two factors are determined for risk assessment?


3. What are some important and appropriate controls for field testing—say, for Bt crops?


4. Give some examples of lower-tier experiments versus upper-tier tests. Why bother
   with lower-tier tests?


5. Discuss what factors would be needed for the risk assessment of a nonagronomic
   trait, such as a pharmaceutical. Where would the risk assessor begin, and how
   would we know when the risk assessment is over—that is, a decision between safe
   and not safe?


6. Which is more important: that a field test be performed for grain yield or
   environmental biosafety?

Plant Biotechnology and Genetics: Principles, Techniques, and Applications, Edited by C. Neal Stewart, Jr.

Copyright#2008 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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