Summary: Recent incidents (eg STARLink, Prodigene soy, Aventis rapeseed), where identity preservation measures of transgenic crops have broken down, illustrate the need for more stringent regulatory oversight of GM crop production whether in field trials or in commercial production. This will be best achieved by a combination of more effective communication between seed companies and growers/processors together with a transparent and credible system of government monitoring.

Like many of my peers, I am clear that agbiotech has great potential in the long term, although I would freely admit that many of us have probably over-hyped it in the past. My feeling is that the contribution of marker-assisted selection and genomics may ultimately eclipse that of the still-primitive transgene technology as applied to crop improvement. Some of these sentiments, that I enunciated back in 1998, have been echoed by a wide range of groups, from the CEO of Monsanto to anti-GM organisations (www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/monsantoMASpossibilities.htm ).

A particular challenge for transgenic crops engineered for output traits is their IP (identity preservation) management. Although scientists like myself had been warning that this needed to be taken more seriously for almost a decade, the issue has tended to be downplayed or even ignored. Recent incidents like the Aventis rapeseed case in Aug 2002 (www.defra.gov.uk/news/2002/020815a.htm) and the recent Prodigene soybean case in Nov 2002 (www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N19107822), not to mention the infamous STARLink episode in 2000, have demonstrated how problematic segregation may actually be.

It really is unconscionable that major food crops like maize/corn or soy should be continue engineered to produce human therapeutics on a commercial scale given the known deficiencies of IP management, not to mention the existence of perfectly acceptable alternative non-food crops, or even cell culture systems. Disquiet over this issue has reached the US food industry (www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_10412.html www.checkbiotech.org/root/index.cfm?fuseaction=newsletter&topic_id=1&subtopic_id=1&doc_id=4119) and now many agbiotech companies have announced a moratorium on development of such crops in established food-growing regions (www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61908-2002Oct21.html). This may be an area where more rigorous regulatory oversight is indicated - as much for the long-term interest of the industry as for the interests of consumers (Murphy, 2003).

Murphy, DJ (2003) Biotechnology, its impact and future prospects, in Molecular to Global Photosynthesis (Archer, MA and Barber, J eds), Imperial College Press, London, pdf preprints available on request from the author.

Professor Denis J Murphy
Biotechnology Unit
School of Applied Sciences
University of Glamorgan
Treforest
Cardiff CF37 1DL
United Kingdom