Good Stewardship Practices Demonstrate Industry Commitment to Responsible Use of Technology
Farmers, consumers, and the environment benefit every day from agricultural biotechnology. Farmers enjoy increased income and productivity. Consumers enjoy healthy, safe, and abundant food. The environment benefits from decreased pesticide applications and carbon emissions. Three federal agencies ensure these crops and foods are as safe for consumption and the environment as other products on the market. In the 12 years that biotech crops have been commercially grown, there has not been a single documented case of an ecosystem disrupted or a person made ill by these foods.
From the beginning, the biotechnology industry has been committed to the responsible use of this technology. Over the past 14 years, technology providers have completed well over 40,000 field trials covered under more than 9,000 permits. While a strong federal regulatory system oversees plant biotechnology, BIO believes that industry stewardship is an essential element in a partnership between government and the private sector. It's simple: to maintain stakeholder and consumer confidence, industry must ensure compliance with science-based regulations, and demonstrate responsible use and accountability.
A History of Industry Stewardship
Researchers focused on stewardship from the earliest days of agricultural biotechnology. Ensuring quality control and responsible use of the technology has always been central to developing and commercializing new biotech crop varieties. Product stewardship is the responsible management of a product from its inception through to its ultimate use. Stewardship makes good business sense - careful attention to the safety of products is essential for high value, branded products in any industry. In agricultural biotechnology, meticulous production methods are a business requirement to ensure that seeds sold will yield harvests with the desired characteristics, and environmental sustainability. The need for close attention to detail during production means quality control and stewardship are natural and complementary allies.
Though industry stewardship has been an essential element from the beginning, BIO and its members formed a Beyond Compliance Taskforce in 2002 to formally leverage industry's experience to educate a wide audience of users on best practices to ensure product stewardship.
Insect Resistance Management
The most successful industry stewardship program has been the Insect Resistance Management Plan, in place since pest-tolerant biotech crops were introduced more than a decade ago.
Agricultural production has historically endured huge losses to pests and disease, and many methods of pest control have had limited life spans - pests adapt or evolve resistance, which reduces the long term utility of control methods. In contrast to previous developers, biotechnology companies created "resistance management plans" to delay the inevitable emergence of resistance to biotech methods of pest control and to impede the spread of any resistance that emerged. These plans have worked so well that a decade after the first large scale introductions of biotech-derived insect pest control no evidence has yet been noted of any significant resistance evolving. These programs have raised the bar on the standards of stewardship, and industry continues to build on this experience.
Compliance Manual and Workshops
In 2004 BIO and AGBIOS, a Canadian company, developed a workshop on compliance training for those conducting field trials. This program provides an understanding of regulatory requirements for field trials of biotech cotton, corn, and soybeans intended for fiber, feed, and food use.
In 2005, BIO began holding workshops for researchers and staff at agricultural research and teaching universities, institutions, and governmental agencies conducting field trials in the United States; farmers conducting trials for technology providers; and company personnel responsible for field trials. The manual and workshops, which provide Continuing Education Credits, cover U.S. regulations; notification and permitting procedures; compliance and enforcement; transport and storage; trial site management; harvest disposition; post-harvest management; audit and verification; and experimental use permits for plant-incorporated protectants.
Ensuring Confinement of Plant-Made Pharmaceuticals
Plant-made pharmaceuticals (PMPs) represent an innovation in agricultural biotechnology where plants are improved through biotechnology to produce therapeutic proteins for biopharmaceuticals and medicines. In 2003, BIO and its members developed the Containment Analysis and Critical Control Point (CACCP) plan, based on experience in the food industry. CACCP was designed to ensure compliance with federal regulations for the confinement of PMPs to enhance the safe and responsible use of this beneficial technology. This plan identifies critical control points and prescribes management plans to make sure that plant material is restricted to its intended use. Stringent confinement procedures prevent unintended mixing of biotech material with food and feed crops, exposure to humans or non-target organisms or environmental exposure, and are grounded in science-based assessments of hazard and potential impacts of exposure.
The Importance of Widespread Compliance
The best stewardship program is an industry whose members are committed to going above and beyond what is required. BIO encourages every biotech-related organization to implement and maintain strong stewardship practices. Robust compliance is just one way our industry is going the extra mile to ensure biotechnology is as secure for the present as it is promising for the future. In the future, it is good common sense that industry stewardship programs will adapt and evolve to match the progress of agricultural biotechnology. As we begin to see new consumer and farmer benefits of this technology, we will see BIO and its members keep pace with continued responsible use of the technology.
