Limited availability of fish oils (FO), rich in n-3 long-chain (≥C20) PUFA, is a major constraint for further growth of the aquaculture industry. Long-chain n-3 rich oils from crops GM with algal genes are promising new sources for the industry. This project studied the use of a newly developed n-3 canola oil (DHA-CA) in diets of Atlantic salmon fingerlings in freshwater. The DHA-CA oil has high proportions of the n-3 fatty acids (FA) 18 : 3n-3 and DHA and lower proportions of n-6 FA than conventional plant oils. Levels of phytosterols, vitamin E and minerals in the DHA-CA were within the natural variation of commercial canola oils. Pesticides, mycotoxins, polyaromatic hydrocarbons and heavy metals were below lowest qualifiable concentration. Two feeding trials were conducted to evaluate effects of two dietary levels of DHA-CA compared with two dietary levels of FO at two water temperatures. Fish increased their weight approximately 20-fold at 16°C and 12-fold at 12°C during the experimental periods, with equal growth in salmon fed the FO diets compared with DHA-CA diets. Salmon fed DHA-CA diets had approximately the same EPA+DHA content in whole body as salmon fed FO diets. Gene expression, lipid composition and oxidative stress-related enzyme activities showed only minor differences between the dietary groups, and the effects were mostly a result of dietary oil level, rather than the oil source. The results demonstrated that DHA-CA is a safe and effective replacement for FO in diets of Atlantic salmon during the sensitive fingerling life-stage.

Staphylinid beetles are recommended bioindicators for the pre-market environmental risk assessment of genetically modified (GM) insect protected maize expressing the Cry3Bb1 toxin. Our multiannual study is a unique European analysis of a staphylinid community within a 14 ha maize field. GM maize, its near-isogenic hybrid (with or without insecticide treatment), and two other reference hybrids were each grown in five 0.5 ha plots. The opportunity for exposure to Cry toxin from plant residues ploughed into the soil was shown by the presence of saprophagous dipteran larvae that are common prey of predatory staphylinid species and hosts of the parasitoid species. 2587 individuals belonging to 77 staphylinid species were sampled using pitfall traps. Lesteva longoelytrata (31%), Oxypoda acuminata (12%), Aloconota sulcifrons (8%) and Anotylus rugosus (7%) were the most abundant beetles in the field. Bionomics, food specialization, temperature requirements and size group were assigned for 25 most common species. These traits determine the occurrence of staphylinid beetles in the field, the food sources they could utilize and thus also their likely contact with the Cry3Bb1 toxin. Statistical analysis of activity abundance, Rao indices and multivariate analysis of distribution of particular categories of functional traits in the field showed negligible effects of the experimental treatments, including the GM maize, upon the staphylinid community. Staphylinid beetles represent a considerably diverse part of epigeic field fauna with wide food specialization; these features render them suitable for the assessment of environmental safety of GM insect protected maize. However, the availability of prey and the presence of particular staphylinid species and their abundance are highly variable; this complicates the interpretation of the results.

When assessing the benefits and risks of transgenic crops, one consideration is their relative effects on non-target arthropod (NTA) abundance and functions within agroecosystems. Several laboratory and field trials have been conducted in Spain since the late 1990s to assess this issue. A consideration in the design of field trials is whether it is necessary to sample most NTAs living in the crop or only representative taxa that perform main ecological functions and have a good capacity to detect small changes in their abundance. Small changes in the field abundance of an effective representative taxon should be detectable using standard experimental protocols. The ability of a species to reveal differences across treatments may be analysed by examining the detectable treatment effects for surveyed non-target organisms. Analysis of data from several NTAs recorded in 14 field trials conducted over 10 years using complete block designs allowed us to select a number of representative taxa capable of detecting changes in the density or activity of arthropod herbivores, predators, parasitoids and decomposers in transgenic and non-transgenic maize varieties. The most suitable NTA as representative taxa (with detectable treatment effects below 50%) included leafhoppers among arthropod herbivores, Orius spp., Araneae, and Carabidae among predators, chalcidids, particularly the family Mymaridae, among parasitoids and Chloropidae as decomposer. Details of sampling techniques for each sampled taxa and their advantages and disadvantages are discussed. It is concluded that abundance of taxa is the most influential factor determining their capacity to detect changes caused by genetically modified varieties.

Determining the effects of genetically modified (GM) crops on non-target organisms is essential as many non-target species provide important ecological functions. However, it is simply not possible to collect field data on more than a few potential non-target species present in the receiving environment of a GM crop. While risk assessment must be rigorous, new approaches are necessary to improve the efficiency of the process. Utilisation of published information and existing data on the phenology and population dynamics of test species in the field can be combined with limited amounts of experimental biosafety data to predict possible outcomes on species persistence. This paper presents an example of an approach where data from laboratory experiments and field studies on phenology are combined using predictive modelling. Using the New Zealand native weevil species Nicaeana cervina as a case study, we could predict that oviposition rates of the weevil feeding on a GM ryegrass could be reduced by up to 30% without threat to populations of the weevil in pastoral ecosystems. In addition, an experimentally established correlation between feeding level and oviposition led to the prediction that a consistent reduction in feeding of 50% or higher indicated a significant risk to the species and could potentially lead to local extinctions. This approach to biosafety risk assessment, maximising the use of pre-existing field and laboratory data on non-target species, can make an important contribution to informed decision-making by regulatory authorities and developers of new technologies.

While significant progress has been made on the modification of crops for the benefit ofproducers, the same cannot be said in regards to eliciting the potential impact that thesecrops may have on the wider landscape and the diversity of life therein. Managementimpacts can create difficulties when making policy, regulation and licensing decisions inthose countries where agriculture has a significant social and ecological position in thelandscape. To begin to gauge the potential impacts of the management of a selection of GMcrops on an agricultural landscape, four key biodiversity stressors (Chemicals,Introgression, Nutrients and Management: CINMa) were identified and a grading systemdeveloped using published data. Upon application to five selected GM crops in a case studyarea, CINMa identifies areas in the wider landscape where biodiversity is likely to benegatively or positively impacted, as well as agricultural zones which may benefit fromthe land use change associated with the management of GM crops and their associated postmarket environmental monitoring.

This paper examines relations between the state and capital in Argentina with respect to agricultural biotechnology. Argentina is one of the world's leading exporters of genetically modified (GM) crops and is a key player in the global politics of biotechnology. Whereas in other parts of the world, including other countries in Latin America, active civil societies and some governments have rejected the technology, Argentina has adopted it as a central accumulation strategy. The desirability of this strategy has been secured in material, institutional and discursive arenas of power, producing a particular expression of ‘bio-hegemony’. Looking at the role of business in the political economy of agricultural biotechnology is revealing both of the extent and forms of corporate power and contributes to an understanding of hegemony in practice.

The seemingly inexorable expansion of global human population size, significant increases in the use of biofuel crops and the growing pressures of multifunctional land-use have intensified the need to improve crop productivity. The widespread cultivation of high-yielding genetically modified (GM) crops could help to address these problems, although in doing so, steps must also be taken to ensure that any gene flow from these crops to wild or weedy recipients does not cause significant ecological harm. It is partly for this reason that new GM cultivars are invariably subjected to strict regulatory evaluation in order to assess the risks that each may pose to the environment. Regulatory bodies vary in their approach to decision-making, although all require access to large quantities of detailed information. Such an exhaustive case-by-case approach has been made tractable by the comparative simplicity of the portfolio of GM crops currently on the market, with four crops and two classes of traits accounting for almost all of the area under cultivation of GM crops. This simplified situation will change shortly, and will seriously complicate and potentially slow the evaluation process. Nowhere will the increased diversity of GM crops cause more difficulty to regulators than in those cases where there is a need to assess whether the transgene(s) will enhance fitness in a non-transgenic relative and thereafter cause ecological harm. Current practice to test this risk hypothesis focuses on attempting to detect increased fitness in the recipient. In this paper we explore the merits and shortcomings of this strategy, and investigate the scope for developing new approaches to streamline decision-making processes for transgenes that could cause unwanted ecological change.