Soleri Daniela, Cleveland David A, Aragón Flavio, Fuentes Mario R, Ríos Humberto, Sweeney Stuart H
Environmental Studies Program and Geography Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2302 Girvetz Hall, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
Environ Biosafety Res. 2005 Jul-Sep;4(3):141-66. doi: 10.1051/ebr:2005019.
Genetically engineered transgenic crop varieties (TGVs) have spread rapidly in the last 10 years, increasingly to traditionally-based agricultural systems (TBAS) of the Third World both as seed and food. Proponents claim they are key to reducing hunger and negative environmental impacts of agriculture. Opponents claim they will have the opposite effect. The risk management process (RMP) is the primary way in which TGVs are regulated in the US (and many other industrial countries), and proponents claim that the findings of that process in the US and its regulatory consequences should be extended to TBAS. However, TBAS differ in important ways from industrial agriculture, so TGVs could have different effects in TBAS, and farmers there may evaluate risks and benefits differently. To evaluate some potential impacts of TGVs in TBAS we used the RMP as a framework for the case of Bt maize in Mesoamerica and Cuba. We interviewed 334 farmers in Cuba, Guatemala and Mexico about farming practices, evaluations of potential harm via hypothetical scenarios, and ranking of maize types. Results suggest high potential for transgene flow via seed, grain and pollen; differences in effects of this exposure in TBAS compared with industrial agriculture; farmers see some potential consequences as harmful. Perceptions of harm differ among farmers in ways determined by their farming systems, and are different from those commonly assumed in industrial systems. An RMP including participation of farmers and characteristics of TBAS critical for their functioning is necessary to ensure that investments in agricultural technologies will improve, not compromise these agricultural systems.
在过去十年中，基因工程转基因作物品种（TGVs）迅速传播，越来越多地以种子和食品的形式进入第三世界基于传统的农业系统（TBAS）。支持者称它们是减少饥饿和农业负面环境影响的关键。反对者则称它们会产生相反的效果。风险管理过程（RMP）是美国（以及许多其他工业国家）对TGVs进行监管的主要方式，支持者声称美国该过程的结果及其监管后果应推广到TBAS。然而，TBAS在重要方面与工业化农业不同，因此TGVs在TBAS中可能会产生不同的影响，那里的农民对风险和收益的评估也可能不同。为了评估TGVs在TBAS中的一些潜在影响，我们以RMP为框架，研究了中美洲和古巴的转基因玉米案例。我们采访了古巴、危地马拉和墨西哥的334名农民，了解他们的种植实践、通过假设情景对潜在危害的评估以及对玉米品种的排名。结果表明，通过种子、谷物和花粉进行转基因流动的可能性很大；与工业化农业相比，TBAS中这种接触的影响存在差异；农民认为一些潜在后果是有害的。农民对危害的认知因种植系统而异，与工业系统中通常假设的认知不同。一个包括农民参与以及对TBAS运作至关重要的特征的RMP对于确保农业技术投资能够改善而不是损害这些农业系统是必要的。
