Focus: Genetically modified organisms and monitoring

Abstract

The genetic modification of organisms for food use has raised serious concern about the potential for adverse effects on the environment, ecosystems and on the health of humans and animals. As a relatively new technology, its impacts remain uncertain but could range from disturbances to the genetic functioning of individual organisms to a reduction in the biodiversity of farmland. As a result, the question of how to monitor for potential impacts is beset with problems. The fact that genetic modification can be used on a range of organisms for a variety of purposes means that those developing monitoring systems will need to be as imaginative as those developing GMOs.

In the case of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) for food use, concern has focussed on the transfer of genes to other organisms, the potential for effects on non-target organisms, or on the health of humans and animals, and the likelihood of adverse effects on wildlife due to changes in farming practice. As with other new and unfamiliar technologies, genetic modification is also plagued by the problem of uncertainty. Novel genes are inserted randomly into the genome of the host organisms, and this leads to the possibility of unexpected effects. Unanticipated environmental disasters, such as the concentration of persistent organic pollutants in ecosystems at high latitudes, have highlighted the need for monitoring despite the obvious difficulties inherent in monitoring for unexpected effects.