We respond to the paper of Kruse-Plass et al. (Environ Sci Eur 29:12, 2017), published in this journal, regarding the risk to non-target lepidopteran larvae exposed to pollen from one or more of three Bt maize ev...
Authors: Joe N. Perry, Paolo Barberi, Detlef Bartsch, A. N. E. Birch, Achim Gathmann, Jozsef Kiss, Barbara Manachini, Marco Nuti, Stefan Rauschen, Joachim Schiemann, Mechthild Schuppener, Jeremy Sweet, Christoph C. Tebbe and Fabio Veronesi
In this commentary, we respond to a report of the EFSA GMO Panel (EFSA EFSA Supp Publ, 1) that criticises the outcomes of two studies published in this journal (Hofmann et al. Environ Sci Eur 26: 24, 2; Environ S...
Authors: Maren Kruse-Plass, Frieder Hofmann, Ulrike Kuhn, Mathias Otto, Ulrich Schlechtriemen, Boris Schröder, Rudolf Vögel and Werner Wosniok
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has introduced a concept for the environmental risk assessment of genetically modified (GM) plants which foresees the definition of ecological threshold values definin...
Authors: Marion Dolezel, Marianne Miklau, Andreas Heissenberger and Wolfram Reichenbecher
A previous 2-year rat feeding trial assessing potential toxicity of NK603 Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize revealed blood and urine biochemical changes indicative of liver and kidney pathology. In a...
Authors: Robin Mesnage, Matthew Arno, Gilles-Eric Séralini and Michael N. Antoniou
Farmland biodiversity is an important characteristic when assessing sustainability of agricultural practices and is of major international concern. Scientific data indicate that agricultural intensification an...
Authors: Gesine Schütte, Michael Eckerstorfer, Valentina Rastelli, Wolfram Reichenbecher, Sara Restrepo-Vassalli, Marja Ruohonen-Lehto, Anne-Gabrielle Wuest Saucy and Martha Mertens
MON89788 was the first genetically engineered soybean worldwide to express a Bt toxin. Under the brand name Intacta, Monsanto subsequently engineered a stacked trait soybean using MON89788 and MON87701—this stack...
A paper reporting findings relevant to safety of the genetically modified (GM) maize NK603 and the herbicide Roundup (Séralini et al., Food Chem Toxicol. 50:4221–4231, 2012) was retracted against the wishes of...
Authors: John Fagan, Terje Traavik and Thomas Bøhn
Cotton with coevolving pests has been grown in India more than 5000 years. Hybrid cotton was introduced in the 1970s with increases in fertilizer and in insecticide use against pink bollworm that caused outbre...
Authors: Andrew Paul Gutierrez, Luigi Ponti, Hans R Herren, Johann Baumgärtner and Peter E Kenmore
A broad community of independent scientific researchers and scholars challenges recent claims of a consensus over the safety of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). In the following joint statement, the clai...
Authors: Angelika Hilbeck, Rosa Binimelis, Nicolas Defarge, Ricarda Steinbrecher, András Székács, Fern Wickson, Michael Antoniou, Philip L Bereano, Ethel Ann Clark, Michael Hansen, Eva Novotny, Jack Heinemann, Hartmut Meyer, Vandana Shiva and Brian Wynne
Information on pollen dispersal is essential for the risk assessment and management of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) such as Bt maize. We analyzed data on maize pollen deposition at 216 sites in German...
Authors: Frieder Hofmann, Mathias Otto and Werner Wosniok
A 2-year rat feeding study with genetically modified NK603 maize sparked an international scientific and public debate as well as policy responses by the European Commission. The European Food Safety Authority...
Genetically engineered, herbicide-resistant and insect-resistant crops have been remarkable commercial successes in the United States. Few independent studies have calculated their impacts on pesticide use per...
Railway tracks represent a highly interlinked habitat with numerous possibilities for accidental entry of oilseed rape due to seed spill during transportation. Moreover, glyphosate is regularly employed to con...
The coexistence of agricultural production with and without the use of genetically modified (GV) crops is supposed to be made possible in Germany by regulations, which include minimal distances of GV-fields to...
Authors: Angelika Wurbs, Claudia Bethwell and Ulrich Stachow
In 2008/2009, Schmidt and colleagues published a study reporting lethal effects of the microbial Bt toxins Cry1Ab and Cry3Bb on the coccinellid biological control organisms Adalia bipunctata. Based on this study,...
Authors: Angelika Hilbeck, Joanna M McMillan, Matthias Meier, Anna Humbel, Juanita Schläpfer-Miller and Miluse Trtikova
We outline important underlying reasons that fuel the decades-long controversy over adverse effects of Bt toxins expressed in genetically modified plants on beneficial, nontarget organisms. Inconsistent evalua...
Authors: Angelika Hilbeck, Matthias Meier and Miluse Trtikova
The approval of genetically modified organisms [GMO] for deliberate release and placing on the market requires GMO environmental risk assessment [ERA] and GMO environmental monitoring [EM]. Both GMO ERA and GM...
The prevailing controversies on the potential environmental risks of genetically modified organisms [GMOs] still fuel ongoing discussions among European Union [EU] member states, risk assessors, applicants and...
Authors: Marion Dolezel, Marianne Miklau, Angelika Hilbeck, Mathias Otto, Michael Eckerstorfer, Andreas Heissenberger, Beatrix Tappeser and Helmut Gaugitsch
The 'step-by step' principle was introduced into the European Union legislation on genetically modified organisms as a means to cope with uncertainty about environmental risks from the release of genetically m...
Co-existence of the cultivation of genetically modified and non-genetically modified crops is commonly regarded as a suitable way out of the clash of perceptions of environmental or health risks of genetically...
The authors of the DFG booklet "Green Genetic Engineering" respond to the criticism by Taube et al. in Environmental Sciences Europe 2011, 23:1. The broad criticism on current cropping systems in agriculture is r...
Authors: Inge Broer, Christian Jung, Frank Ordon, Matin Qaim, Barbara Reinhold-Hurek, Uwe Sonnewald and Andreas von Tiedemann
In Europe, the EU Directive 2001/18/EC lays out the main provisions of environmental risk assessment (ERA) of genetically modified (GM) organisms that are interpreted very differently by different stakeholders...
Authors: Angelika Hilbeck, Matthias Meier, Jörg Römbke, Stephan Jänsch, Hanka Teichmann and Beatrix Tappeser
According to the Directive 2001/18/EC, genetically modified plants [GMPs] have to be monitored for unintended ecological impacts during their release. Detrimental effects on the biodiversity of agro-ecosystems...
Authors: Kathrin Pascher, Dietmar Moser, Stefan Dullinger, Leopold Sachslehner, Patrick Gros, Norbert Sauberer, Andreas Traxler, Georg Grabherr and Thomas Frank
We reviewed 19 studies of mammals fed with commercialized genetically modified soybean and maize which represent, per trait and plant, more than 80% of all environmental genetically modified organisms (GMOs) c...
Authors: Gilles-Eric Séralini, Robin Mesnage, Emilie Clair, Steeve Gress, Joël Spiroux de Vendômois and Dominique Cellier
Small-scale agriculture is an important issue for food security in Africa. In the context of Genetically Modified Organisms, approaches to quantify geneflow in small-scale systems are widely unexplored. We aim...
Authors: Denis Worlanyo Aheto, Hauke Reuter and Broder Breckling
South Africa has been growing first-generation commercial genetically modified (GM) maize since 1997. Despite a requirement for non-GM food, especially for export, there is no system for coexistence of GM and ...
Since more than 25 years, public dialogues, expert consultations and scientific publications have concluded that a comprehensive assessment of the implications of genetic engineering in agriculture and food pr...
In Germany, apart from the Amflora potato licensed for cultivation since March 2010, Bt-maize MON810 is the only genetically modified organisms (GMO) licensed for commercial cultivation (about 3,000 ha in 2008...
Authors: Lukas Kleppin, Gunther Schmidt and Winfried Schröder
Over the past 20 years, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have raised enormous expectations, passionate political controversies and an ongoing debate on how these technologies should be assessed. Current r...
Authors: Vincenzo Pavone, Joanna Goven and Riccardo Guarino
In December 2009 the German Research Foundation published the booklet "Grüne Gentechnik" (Genetically modified crops) claiming to give a scientifically well balanced information about GMO's in agriculture. In ...
Authors: Friedhelm Taube, Michael Krawinkel, Andreas Susenbeth and Werner Theobald
