This Issue Paper identifies the nature of gene flow and discusses the relatively limited situations in which it is likely to cause economic problems in the production of commercial biotech crops. The paper explains how gene flow relates to adventitious presence, describes the biological traits being imparted into biotech crops, summarizes present risk assessment and regulatory mechanisms, and discusses potential economic effects and policy and research ramifications of gene flow of commercial biotech crops. (Keywords: Biotechnology, GMO, Biotech Crops, gene flow, alfalfa, GE, genetically engineered) Chair: David Gealy, USDA–Agricultural Research Service, Stuttgart, Arkansas.

IP37, December 2007, 24 pp., Available free online and in print (fee for shipping/handling).

Publication Impact Report – February 2008

Download Mandarin Chinese translation