Environmental and food impacts assessment of genetically modified plants (GMP): a methodological proposal

• Grant number: 06/05236-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: March 01, 2007
• End date: February 28, 2009
• Field of knowledge: Interdisciplinary Subjects
• Principal Investigator: Katia Regina Evaristo de Jesus
• Grantee: Simone Marchini Naves Cremonezi
• Host Institution: Embrapa Meio-Ambiente. Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA). Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento (Brasil). Jaguariúna , SP, Brazil

Abstract

An essential step in the development of products based on genetically modified plants (GMPs) is an assessment of safety, including an evaluation of the potential impact of the crop and practices related to its cultivation on the environment and human or animal health. The purpose of this safety assessment is to compare information about the GMP with that from a non-GM crop. However, at present this impact analysis may be faulty because there is no widely accepted and specific impact assessment method to evaluate GMPs that uses quantifiable parameters and allows for a comparative analysis among different technologies. This project proposes the development of the Impact Assessment Method to GMP that focuses on the identification and evaluation of impact associated with the field release, cultivation and features of GMPs. Aiming to this it will used the “Impactos” (ZACKIEWICZ, 2005) a general platform or software that will be filled and adequate to this study. The proposed new methodology consists of the selection of the parameters provided by the contributions of experts from Agriculture Biotechnology area for the environment and the food dimension. Aiming to this interaction between the researchers and the experts workshops for updates will be organized in order to support this project. The “Software called Impactos” is used to assess the impact of Technologies and Research programs. It was built inside the projects supported by FAPESP and FINEP. These projects were developed by the GEOPI/DPCT/UNICAMP (Grupo de Estudos sobre a Organização da Pesquisa e da Inovação do Departamento de Política Científica e Tecnológica do Instituto de Geociências) this present proposal counts with the contributions of the GEOPI members. Compared to current processes, this proposed method represents a less subjective and more transparent process for environmental and food impact assessment.