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The GM Contamination Register: a review of recorded contamination incidents associated with genetically modified organisms (GMOs), 1997–2013

Becky Price1   and Janet Cotter2  (1)Consultant for GeneWatch UK, 60 Lightwood Road, Buxton, SK17 7BB, UK(2)Greenpeace Resaerch Laboratories, Innovation Centre Phase 2, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4RN, UK Becky Price Email: mail@genewatch.orgJanet Cotter (Corresponding author) Email: janet.cotter@greenpeace.orgReceived: 22 May 2014Accepted: 26 September 2014Published online: 25 October 2014

Abstract

BackgroundSince large-scale commercial planting of genetically modified (GM) crops began in 1996, a concern has been that non-GM crops may become contaminated by GM crops and that wild or weedy relatives of GM crops growing outside of cultivated areas could become contaminated. The GM Contamination Register contains records of GM contamination incidents since 1997 and forms a unique database. By the end of 2013, 396 incidents across 63 countries had been recorded.

ResultsAnalysis of the Register database reveals rice has the highest number of GM contamination incidents of all crops (accounting for a third of incidents), despite there being no commercial growing of GM rice anywhere in the world. The majority of these incidents derive from two distinct cases of contamination of unauthorised GM rice lines, LLRICE from the USA and BT63 rice from China. Maize accounts for 25% of GM contamination incidents, whilst soya and oilseed rape account for approximately 10% of incidents. Although factors such as acreage grown, plant biology, designation as a food or non food crop and degree of international trading can potentially affect the frequency and extent of contamination, it is not possible to determine which are dominant.

The Register records a total of nine cases of contamination from unauthorised GM lines, i.e. those at the research and development stage with no authorisation for commercial cultivation anywhere in the world. An important conclusion of this work is that GM contamination can occur independently of commercialisation. Some of these cases, notably papaya in Thailand, maize in Mexico and grass in USA have continued over a number of years and are ongoing, whilst other contamination cases such as Bt10 maize and pharmaceutical-producing GM crops occur only with a single year. The route(s) of contamination are often unclear.

ConclusionsThe detection of GMO contamination is dependent on both routine and targeted monitoring regimes, which appears to be inconsistent from country to country, even within the EU. The lack of an analytical methodology for the detection of GM crops at the field trial stage (i.e. pre-commercialisation) can hamper efforts to detect any contamination arising from such GM lines.

Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.?1186/?s40550-014-0005-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Keywords  Genetically modified Contamination Gene flow Crops FoodFeed Field trial

International Journal of Food Contamination© Price and Cotter; licensee Springer. 2014

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://?creativecommons.?org/?licenses/?by/?4.?0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.10.1186/s40550-014-0005-8

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