U.S. Department of Agriculture: Agricultural Research Service, Lincoln, Nebraska
Date of this Version
1999
Abstract
Meetings such as this workshop provide an all too rare opportunity for scientists from different disciplines to share their perspectives on a topic of common interest. In this case we examine the use of pest resistant plants in managed ecosystems. USDA-APHIS has a clear interest in this subject because it is involved in regulating transgenic plants, many of which have been engineered with some sort of pest resistance, within its broad authority to protect plants under the Federal Plant Pest Act and the Plant Quarantine Act. Since 1992, when APHIS received its first request to determine non-regulated status for a transgenic crop, the agency has approved 43 petitions for non-regulated status; 16 of those are for crops with engineered pest resistance. The agency authorizes controlled field testing of transgenic plants in which test plants are isolated from other plants that might be affected. APHIS grants nonregulated status once it determines that the transgenic plant does not present a plant pest risk. In the regulations, the concept of plant pest risk is associated with direct or indirect injury or damage to plants or plant products.
Comments
Published in Ecological Effects of Pest Resistance Genes in Managed Ecosystems.