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The nonsensical GMO pseudo-category and a precautionary rabbit hole

Nature Biotechnology volume 33, pages 907–908 (2015)Cite this article

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To the Editor:

The term genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is a useless and imprecise category used to pigeonhole products (mostly crops) that have had their genetic content engineered to cancel undesirable phenotypic traits (e.g., allergenicity or toxicity) or to express desired added traits (e.g., resistance to pests, herbicide tolerance, improved nutritional properties or better performance under abiotic stress, such as flooding, drought or heat). It is theoretically and practically impossible to precisely specify a supposed common denominator for all these products; thus, the awkwardness and contradictions of the two main current pseudo-definitions by the European Union1 (Brussels) and the Cartagena Protocol2. On the one hand, these two botched regulations lump together, in a very mixed pile, a whole range of 'green' biotech products with very different characteristics just because they all have spliced DNA; on the other, they omit everything with often similar or identical properties, obtained through genetic manipulation that is neither direct nor targeted (e.g., traditional cross-breeding and hybridizations, cell culture, and physical or chemical mutagenesis).

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References

  1. European Union. Directive 2001/18, on the deliberate release into the environment of genetically modified organisms. (EU, Brussels, 2001). http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/agriculture/food/l28130_en.htm

  2. Convention on Biological Diversity. Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity: text and annexes. (Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal, 2000). https://www.cbd.int/doc/legal/cartagena-protocol-en.pdf

  3. United Nations. Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development: Annex I: Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (UN, 1992). http://www.un.org/documents/ga/conf151/aconf15126-1annex1.htm

  4. European Commission. Communication from the Commission on the precautionary principle, COM(2000) 1, Brussels, 02.02.2000 (2000). http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/consumers/consumer_safety/l32042_en.htm

  5. Taleb, N.N., Read, R., Douady, R., Norman, J. & Bar-Yam, Y. The precautionary principle (with application to the genetic modification of organisms). (4 September 2014). http://www.fooledbyrandomness.com/pp2.pdf

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  1. Carugo, Como, Italy

    Giovanni Tagliabue

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  1. Giovanni Tagliabue
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Correspondence to Giovanni Tagliabue.

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Tagliabue, G. The nonsensical GMO pseudo-category and a precautionary rabbit hole. Nat Biotechnol 33, 907–908 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.3333

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