title: Surrogate species selection for assessing potential adverse environmental impacts of genetically engineered insect-resistant plants on non-target organisms.
abstract: Most regulatory authorities require that developers of genetically engineered insect-resistant (GEIR) crops evaluate the potential for these crops to have adverse impacts on valued non-target organisms (NTOs), i.e., organisms not intended to be controlled by the trait. In many cases, impacts to NTOs are assessed using surrogate species, and it is critical that the data derived from surrogates accurately predict any adverse impacts likely to be observed from the use of the crop in the agricultural context. The key is to select surrogate species that best represent the valued NTOs in the location where the crop is going to be introduced, but this selection process poses numerous challenges for the developers of GE crops who will perform the tests, as well as for the ecologists and regulators who will interpret the test results. These issues were the subject of a conference "Surrogate Species Selection for Assessing Potential Adverse Environmental Impacts of Genetically Engineered Plants on Non-Target Organisms" convened by the Center for Environmental Risk Assessment, ILSI Research Foundation. This report summarizes the proceedings of the conference, including the presentations, discussions and the points of consensus agreed to by the participants.
authors.affiliation: DuPont Pioneer; Johnston, IA USA.
authors.forename: Keri
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Carstens
authors.affiliation: National Crop Protection Center-Crop Protection Cluster; College of Agriculture; University of the Philippines Los Baños; Laguna, Philippines.
authors.forename: Bonifacio
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cayabyab
authors.affiliation: Biosafety and Biotechnology Unit; Institute of Public Health; Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Adinda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: De Schrijver
authors.affiliation: Biotechnology Directorate; Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries; Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Patricia G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Gadaleta
authors.affiliation: USDA-ARS; Corn Insects and Crop Genetics Research Unit and Department of Entomology; Iowa State University; Ames, IA USA.
authors.forename: Richard L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Hellmich
authors.affiliation: Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon Research Station ART; Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Jörg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Romeis
authors.affiliation: Dow AgroSciences LLC; Indianapolis, IN USA.
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Storer
authors.affiliation: National Research Center for Milo and Sorghum; Sete Lagoas, MG Brazil.
authors.forename: Fernando H
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Valicente
authors.affiliation: Center for Environmental Risk Assessment; ILSI Research Foundation; Washington, DC USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wach
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001947:Breeding; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000235:genetics*; D004777:Environment; D007313:Insecta / Q000502:physiology*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013045:Species Specificity
keywords: biosafety; environmental risk assessment; non-target organisms; surrogate species; tiered testing