European Food Safety Authority, GMO Unit, Largo Natale Palli 5/A, 43121, Parma, Italy.
Transgenic Res. 2012 Feb;21(1):1-21. doi: 10.1007/s11248-011-9515-9. Epub 2011 Apr 28.
One of the concerns surrounding the import (for food and feed uses or processing) of genetically modified herbicide tolerant (GMHT) oilseed rape is that, through seed spillage, the herbicide tolerance (HT) trait will escape into agricultural or semi-natural habitats, causing environmental or economic problems. Based on these concerns, three EU countries have invoked national safeguard clauses to ban the marketing of specific GMHT oilseed rape events on their territory. However, the scientific basis for the environmental and economic concerns posed by feral GMHT oilseed rape resulting from seed import spills is debatable. While oilseed rape has characteristics such as secondary dormancy and small seed size that enable it to persist and be redistributed in the landscape, the presence of ferals is not in itself an environmental or economic problem. Crucially, feral oilseed rape has not become invasive outside cultivated and ruderal habitats, and HT traits are not likely to result in increased invasiveness. Feral GMHT oilseed rape has the potential to introduce HT traits to volunteer weeds in agricultural fields, but would only be amplified if the herbicides to which HT volunteers are tolerant were used routinely in the field. However, this worst-case scenario is most unlikely, as seed import spills are mostly confined to port areas. Economic concerns revolve around the potential for feral GMHT oilseed rape to contribute to GM admixtures in non-GM crops. Since feral plants derived from cultivation (as distinct from import) occur at too low a frequency to affect the coexistence threshold of 0.9% in the EU, it can be concluded that feral GMHT plants resulting from seed import spills will have little relevance as a potential source of pollen or seed for GM admixture. This paper concludes that feral oilseed rape in Europe should not be routinely managed, and certainly not in semi-natural habitats, as the benefits of such action would not outweigh the negative effects of management.
人们对进口（用于食品和饲料用途或加工）耐除草剂转基因油菜的担忧之一是，通过种子散落，除草剂耐受性（HT）特性会逃逸到农业或半自然栖息地，从而造成环境或经济问题。基于这些担忧，三个欧盟国家援引了国家保障条款，禁止在其领土上销售特定的耐除草剂转基因油菜事件。然而，由种子进口溢出引起的野生耐除草剂转基因油菜所带来的环境和经济问题的科学依据是有争议的。虽然油菜具有二次休眠和种子体积小等特点，使其能够在景观中持续存在和重新分布，但野生植物的存在本身并不是环境或经济问题。至关重要的是，野生油菜并没有在栽培和荒地之外的地方变得具有侵略性，并且 HT 特性不太可能导致侵略性增加。野生耐除草剂转基因油菜有可能将 HT 特性引入农业田中的野生杂草，但只有在耐受 HT 的除草剂常规用于田间的情况下才会被放大。然而，这种最坏的情况极不可能发生，因为种子进口溢出主要局限于港口地区。经济方面的担忧主要围绕着野生耐除草剂转基因油菜可能对非转基因作物中的 GM 混合物产生影响。由于源自种植（与进口不同）的野生植物出现的频率太低，不会影响欧盟 0.9%的共存阈值，因此可以得出结论，种子进口溢出产生的野生耐除草剂转基因植物作为 GM 混合物的花粉或种子的潜在来源，其相关性很小。本文得出结论，欧洲的野生油菜不应常规管理，当然也不应在半自然栖息地进行管理，因为此类行动的好处不会超过管理的负面影响。
