“Interactive Technology Assessment” and Beyond: the Field Trial of Genetically Modified Grapevines at INRA-Colmar

There is increasing interest worldwide in how decision-making processes concerning controversial technological innovations can be improved by better integration of input from society at large. Aiming to gain knowledge on grapevine defence mechanisms against grapevine fanleaf virus (GFLV), a severe disease, scientists wanted to carry out a field trial of genetically modified grapevine rootstocks in Alsace. Three millennia of winemakers’ tradition and innovation suddenly collided in this highly reputed cradle of French viticulture. The French Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) used the Interactive Technology Assessment (ITA, Box 1) method in an initial consultation phase to integrate public input and then went beyond ITA to carry out the field trial. The implementation phase was made possible by the involvement of a Local Monitoring Committee (LMC, Box 2) with broad stakeholder representation. In the course of 7-years’ work, the LMC built a research-action program which allowed redesigning of the initial GM grapevine research assay, as well as developing innovative trials on environmental impact and organic viticulture. Over the past decades, society in Europe has experienced repeated crises highlighting cross-relationships between health, politics, science, agriculture, the environment, and society. The immediate effect of these unprecedented crises has been the growth of doubt, and ‘‘the collapse of certainties linked to the idea of guaranteed progress, and collapse of the idea that science and technology can only be beneficial has introduced the worm of uncertainty everywhere’’ [1]. This change in public attitude in Europe is perfectly illustrated by the acceptability of genetically modified (GM) plants. During the late 80s and early 90s, Europe was a hotbed of research and development concerning GM plants, and numerous field trials were performed without significant public opposition. More recently, attitudes in many European countries have become distinctly anti-GM, as shown by the repeated destruction of field trials of GM crops. Years after the directive 2001/ 18/EC of European Parliament, the political posture of European countries has still not settled [2]. Nonetheless, there are certain cases where genetic engineering is one of the few means available to solve a major agronomic problem or to study fundamental mechanisms of plant biology, as a first step. For instance, Grapevine fanleaf virus (GFLV), which is transmitted by soil nematodes, is the cause of an often lethal disease of grapevines with worldwide distribution. Until recently, controlling the disease typically involved removing infected individuals and treating the soil in and around the focus of infection with nematicide fumigants, but this is no longer possible, since these nematicides were banned due to their unacceptable environmental impact. For this reason, researchers at the French Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) and several other labs developed potentially GFLV-resistant grapevine rootstocks, on which non-GM scions of the traditional grape cultivars could be grafted [3]. Since the virus is soil-transmitted, the resistance of the rootstocks should be sufficient to protect the scions, thus making it possible to make non-GM wine from the grapes borne by the scions. Following the authorization of the French Ministry of Agriculture, and based on opinion of the Biomolecular Engineering Commission (B/FR/94-11-04), a first GM rootstock trial was set up in 1996 on a grapevine plot in the Champagne region that was affected by GFLV. Analyses performed on the plot suggested that the GM rootstocks could delay the onset of GFLV infection by at least three years [3] (Figure 1). The researchers wanted to confirm these preliminary results, to determine the mechanism of this resistance to the disease, and also assess its sustainability and environmental