Plenary Lectures P 2 . 1 Transgenic crop plants : a new promising technology or threat to man and environment ?

Since the beginning of agriculture plants and animals used by man were genetically modified, sometimes very fundamentally. As a consequence cultivars of cultivated plants rarely can survive outside agriculture. Genetic modifications selected by man were those which increased the agricultural productivity of plants. The constant progress in the productivity of plant production was the basis for human advances in civilization. To meet the food demands of rising human populations was and still is the main challenge in agriculture, this is illustrated by the following fact: Had 1961 average world cereal yields still prevailed till now, nearly 850 million ha of additional land of the same quality would have been needed to equal 1999 harvest [1]. It is obvious that such surplus of good agricultural land is not available or would be taken by further deforestation. Practices of high-input crop production are meeting their limits due to economic and environmental constraints therefore the necessary increase in food production might be achieved by better utilization of biological potential of our crops [2]. The new technology emerging from advances of molecular biology opens such possibilities. Crop cultivars developed with methods of molecular biology are named as transgenic cultivars. Transgenesis opens new possibilities for development of new combination of genes, which were not possible to obtain in natural recombination processes. It, therefore, opens possibilities of creation of novel cultivars not only with improved agronomic characteristics and better quality as food and feed but also suitable for non-food use. These new possibilities of novel gene combinations which are so promising for plant breeders at the same time induced strong opposition to this technology based on potential fears of misuse and unpredictable hazards. In order to minimize the risk, the system of legal and administrative measures was elaborated for control and monitoring of utilization of modern biotechnology in food /feed production and other economic activities. In year 2005 transgenic cultivars were grown on almost 100 million ha around the world [3]. In this paper the present status of plant biotechnology (“green” biotech) will be described and possible developments in near future will be indicated. Public concerns and objections connected with this new technology will be summarized and regulatory, administrative and technical means to minimize possible risk involved will be discussed. 1. Borlaug NE (2000) Plant Physiol. 124:487-490. 2. Pinstrup-Andersen P, Pandya-Lorch R and Rosegrant MW (1999) World food Prospects: critical issues for the early twentyfirst century. International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington D.C., October 1999. 3. James C (2005) ISAAA Brief 34.