Springer GMOs: Implications for Biodiversity Conservation and Ecological Processes: 19 (Topics in Biodiversity and Conservation, 19)

This book covers a broad spectrum of topics related to GMOs and allied new gene-based technologies, biodiversity, and ecosystem processes, bringing together the contributions of researchers and regulators from around the world. The aim is to offer a clear view of the benefits and effects of genetically modified crops, insects, and other animals on the soil microbiome and ecological processes. Contributors examine issues related to the development of risk assessment procedures and regulations designed to maximize benefits while minimizing risks. Beyond the scientific challenges of GMOs, the book explores the broad and contentious terrain of ethical considerations. The contributors discuss such questions as the unintended, possibly unforeseen, consequences of releasing GMOs into ecosystems, and the likelihood that the full effects of GMOs could take years, even decades, of close monitoring to become evident. The importance of developing a precautionary approach is stressed. The final chapter describes the critical issues of governance and regulation of new and emerging gene-based technologies, as nations grapple with the consequences of adopting the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CPB). The volume includes an extensive Annex which outlines legal perspectives on the state of GMO governance around the world, with more than 20 examples from nations in Africa, South and Central America, Asia, Australasia, and Europe.   From the Back Cover This book covers a broad spectrum of topics related to GMOs and allied new gene-based technologies, biodiversity, and ecosystem processes, bringing together the contributions of researchers and regulators from around the world. The aim is to offer a clear view of the benefits and effects of genetically modified crops, insects, and other animals on the soil microbiome and ecological processes. Contributors examine issues related to the development of risk assessment procedures and regulations designed to maximize benefits while minimizing risks. Beyond the scientific challenges of GMOs, the book explores the broad and contentious terrain of ethical considerations. The contributors discuss such questions as the unintended, possibly unforeseen, consequences of releasing GMOs into ecosystems, and the likelihood that the full effects of GMOs could take years, even decades, of close monitoring to become evident. The importance of developing a precautionary approach is stressed. The final chapter describes the critical issues of governance and regulation of new and emerging gene-based technologies, as nations grapple with the consequences of adopting the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CPB). The volume includes an extensive Annex which outlines legal perspectives on the state of GMO governance around the world, with more than 20 examples from nations in Africa, South and Central America, Asia, Australasia, and Europe.   About the Author Anurag Chaurasia, a biotechnologist working with Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Government of India, is a pioneer worker on transgenics/GMOs in the country. He has served as faculty 'Molecular biology and biotechnology' at NRC on Plant Biotechnology, IARI, PUSA, New Delhi, and has established the National Bureau on Agriculturally Important Microorganisms (NBAIM) at Mau, Uttar Pradesh. His opinion articles in Nature journal have been accepted by the government in formulating the GM and New Education Policy of the nation. He has been serving on the board of many reputed journals. David L Hawksworth is a former President of the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS), an Honorary President of the International Mycological Association (IMA), the last Director of the International Mycological Institute, and was subsequently employed as a research professor in the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Primarily a mycologist, but with wide wide-ranging interests in the environment