Nematode Community for ‘Non-target Safety’ Studies on Transgenic Crops*

Genetically modified plants offer a wealth of advantages that can not be reached via traditional breeding. At the same time there are concerns that the insect resistant genetically modified crops could harm organisms other than the pests targeted by the toxin. That is the reason, Swiss National Foundation has put a moratorium for five years (2005–10) on cultivation of transgenic crops and at the same time has released $9.8 millions for 27 projects (www.swissinfo.org) that are designed to answer a number of uncertainties relating to ecological risks of these ‘not so new’ crops. As a result of ‘serious doubts’ with regard to the safety of the Bt maize [MON810], which was under cultivation for a decade (1998–2007), on 21, 000 hectares in France; has been put under national ban for the year 2008. Taking note of recent developments, reviewing of the situation has become crucial for better understanding environmental risks. To prove safety of transgenic crops, there is need to develop a credible risk assessment methodology because there are doubts in the scientific community about the sensitivity of the techniques being used to estimate the impacts. Consumption of pollens by butterflies, persistence of Bt toxin in the decomposed material in soil, secondary poisoning of predators are all potential causes of apprehension as till date we do not have standard methodologies to analyze, quantify and take decisions, on the basis of tolerance limits to the environment. Therefore, it is necessary to develop scientifically sound guidelines for bioassay studies and ecological risk assessment. After reviewing the work in the direction, using soil nematodes as ‘bio-indicators’ and ‘nematode community studies’ especially maturity index (MI) values and ‘trophic diversity indices’ under actual field conditions to observe and quantify ecological risk are proposed.