A decade of European field trials with genetically modified plants

Free access article

Issue		Environ. Biosafety Res. Volume 3, Number 2, April-June 2004


Page(s)		99 - 107
DOI		10.1051/ebr:2004009

Environ. Biosafety Res. 3 (2004) 99-107
DOI: 10.1051/ebr:2004009

A decade of European field trials with genetically modified plants

Karine Lheureux¹ and Klaus Menrad²

¹ European Commission, Directorate-General Joint Research Centre (JRC), Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS)
² Fachhochschule Weihenstephan (University of Applied Sciences) Wissenschaftszentrum Straubing (Science Centre Straubing) Schulgasse 18, D-94315 Straubing Germany

(Received November 5, 2003; accepted May 3, 2004)

Abstract
This article analyzes the development of notifications of genetically modified plants field trials in the European Union from 1991 to 2001, based on the data collected at the European level in the Summary Notification Information Format database. During this time period, a total of 1687 field trial notifications were received. The number of field trial notifications dropped by 76% between 1998 and 2001, mainly due to the de facto moratorium in place since 1999. Input traits (77%) dominated the field trial notifications during the last decade, while output traits were relevant in only 18% of all notifications, with a decreasing relevance during the last six years. In particular, field trial notifications on molecular farming were almost absent in the EU. Large companies focused their field trials on crops with a high grown area in the European Union and resistance traits, while public institutions showed interest in a large diversity of plants and traits. Finally, some conclusions on future impacts of the results of the study are drawn in this article.

Key words: genetically modified plants / European Union / field trial notifications / EU SNIF database

Corresponding author: Karine Lheureux Karine.Lheureux@efsa.eu.int

© ISBR, EDP Sciences 2004

What is OpenURL?

The OpenURL standard is a protocol for transmission of metadata describing the resource that you wish to access. An OpenURL link contains article metadata and directs it to the OpenURL server of your choice. The OpenURL server can provide access to the resource and also offer complementary services (specific search engine, export of references...). The OpenURL link can be generated by different means.

If your librarian has set up your subscription with an OpenURL resolver, OpenURL links appear automatically on the abstract pages.
You can define your own OpenURL resolver with your EDPS Account. In this case your choice will be given priority over that of your library.
You can use an add-on for your browser (Firefox or I.E.) to display OpenURL links on a page (see http://www.openly.com/openurlref/). You should disable this module if you wish to use the OpenURL server that you or your library have defined.