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ASSESSMENT OF FUTURE ENVIRONMENTAL TRENDS AND PROBLEMS: AGRICULTURAL USE OF APPLIED GENETICS AND BIOTECHNOLOGIES
Citation:
Kidd, G., M. Davis, AND P. Esmailzadeh. ASSESSMENT OF FUTURE ENVIRONMENTAL TRENDS AND PROBLEMS: AGRICULTURAL USE OF APPLIED GENETICS AND BIOTECHNOLOGIES. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/8-81/019 (NTIS PB82114752), 1981.
Description:
Battelle's Columbus Laboratories will identify and define future environmental concerns arising from applying genetic engineering technology to agricultural problems. Two genetic emgineering technologies, plant tissue culture and recombinant DNA, will be considered. Potential environmental problems resulting from the research process (e.g. release or escape of recombinant organisms into the environment, dispersion or reproduction of recombinant organisms or molecules) and from applications of genetically engineered organisms (e.g., large-scale cultivation of a nitrogen-fixing grain crop) will be assessed. Information pertaining to potential problems will be obtained from the published scientific literature and from telephone interviews of experts currently active in applied genetics research. A cross-impact analysis program/model will be used to identify and define some impacts and trends, e.g., such as political, economic, and social settings which facilitate the agricultural applications of recombinant DNA. In addition to identification and definition of environmental impacts, other outputs would include identification of organizations and individuals interested or involved in agricultural genetic engineering, descriptions of trends that may affect public health or environmental policy, and identification of major data gaps and inadequacies in analytical methods.