Aventis CropScience, Belgija
Genska
tehnologija je kot dodatni pripomoček pri žlahtnjenju rastlin v uporabi od
poznih osemdesetih let. Številne gensko spremenjene sorte se komercialno že na
široko uporabljajo, v glavnem v Ameriki (Severni in Južni). Prve, tako razvite
lastnosti izvirajo v glavnem iz
potreb semenarske industrije: toleranca na selektivne herbicide, odpornost proti
žuželkam, kontrola križanja.
Prve
genetsko spremenjene rastline so bile tiste, ki se v sklopu sodobnega kmetovanja
pridelujejo širom po svetu. To so: soja, koruza, oljna repica in bombaž. Danes
so gensko spremenjene bolj ali manj vse pomembne rastlinske vrste, vključno z
žiti. Skupaj z njimi je razvita tudi široka paleta lastnosti, ki z
agronomskega stališča izboljšujejo pridelovalno kakovost rastlin. V nekaterih
državah kot so ZDA, Kanada, Japonska in države EU so bili vzpostavljeni dokaj
dosledni zakonski sistemi, ki urejajo trženje s tovrstnimi novimi rastlinami.
Vsi sistemi temeljijo na konceptu enakovrednosti, ki je zasnovan na dejstvu, da
morajo biti gensko spremenjene sorte najmanj tako varne kot so konvencialne
sorte. Ttrgovanje s kmetijskimi proizvodi širom po svetu je povečalo potrebo
po večji usklajenosti, izboljšani preglednosti in izboljšanju vrednotenja
varnosti. Številne mednarodne pobude potekajo v smeri teh ciljev preko:
Cartagena protokola, OECD, FAO/WHO, EU-US Forum itd. Za EU bo pomemben korak v
tej smeri revidirana direktiva 90/220.
ABSTRACT
Since
the late 1980's gene technology has been used in plants as an additional tool in
crop improvement. Today several commercial GM crop varieties are widely used
mainly on the American continents. The first traits developed were those lying
in the main expertise of the Seed Industry: tolerance to non-selective
herbicides, resistance to insects, pollination control. Moreover the first
species genetically modified were plants largely used throughout the world in
modern agriculture such as soybean, maize, oilseed rape and cotton. Today more
or less all important plant species including cereals have been transformed and
a wide range of traits from agronomic enhancement to plant-product quality improvement are being developed. In
countries like USA, Canada, the European Union and Japan, consistent
legislative systems
regulating the marketing of such novel crops have been set up. All systems are
based on the concept of substantial
equivalence it must be demonstrated that the GM crop is at least as safe as its
conventional counterpart. However the practicalities of trade in agricultural
products throughout the world has raised the necessity for more harmonisation,
improved transparency and safety evaluation capacity building. Several
international initiatives are in process with this aim: Cartagena protocol, OECD,
FAO/WHO, EU-US Forum etc. For the EU the revised directive 90/220 will be an
important step.