转基因植物环境监测进展

近20年来,转基因植物的商业化应用规模越来越大,而转基因生物安全问题依然是转基因植物产业进一步发展的最主要制约因素。转基因植物在商业化应用之前虽然预先进行了风险评估,但是,包括环境监测在内的风险管理措施是确保转基因植物安全应用的必要手段。在转基因作物大规模应用近20年之后,其在靶标生物抗性、对生物多样性的影响、基因漂移、在生态系统中的长期存留等方面产生的环境风险已经渐渐显现出来,表明风险评估无法为转基因植物应用提供足够的安全保障,还必须通过开展系统而长期的环境监测,明确转基因植物在生产应用后的实际环境影响。联合国环境规划署和欧盟等已经制定了转基因植物环境监测的法规和技术指南,一些国家实施了系统的转基因植物环境监测。对转基因植物所产生的环境风险以及环境监测应包括的内容进行了综述。

Progress in the environmental monitoring of transgenic plants

Although global commercialization of transgenic plants has rapidly increased in the past 20 years, biosafety issue is still a constraint on further expansion and use of transgenic plants. Risk assessment has always been performed before commercialization of transgenic plants, but risk management measures, including environmental monitoring, are still necessary to ensure the safe application of transgenic plants. After 20 years of extensive application, some environmental risks caused by transgenic plants have gradually been revealed, such as resistance of target organisms, impacts on biodiversity, gene flow, and long-term persistence of transgenic plants in ecosystems. This reminds us that risk assessment is not enough to guarantee the safe application of transgenic plants; systematic and long-term environmental monitoring is necessary to identify the actual environmental effects. Laws and technical guidelines on environmental monitoring of transgenic plants have been issued by international organizations, such as the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the European Union. Some countries have already performed systematical environmental monitoring of transgenic plants. This article summarizes the environmental risks of transgenic plants and the contents of environmental monitoring.