SCOPE 44 - Introduction of Genetically Modified Organisms into the Environment

Preface

The Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) and the Committee on Genetic Experimentation(COGENE) co-sponsored a meeting of specialists in molecular biology, population genetics, and ecology to consider the issues related to the introduction of genetically modified organisms into the environment. The charge to this group was to provide the necessary scientific background in order to make a statement on the potential benefits and hazards of introductions of bio-engineered organisms. This volume contains first the statement and then the background from which it is derived.

The participants of the meeting included those who have been central in the revolution of thought and techniques that have characterized the development of molecular biology as well as ecologists who have actively participated in an analysis of the fate and environmental consequences of introduced organisms.

At the time of the meeting there had been considerable discussion at national levels concerning the consequences of the 'release' of genetically engineered organisms, but there had been less international discourse. Further, the attempts at dialogue between ecologists and molecular biologists had not been highly successful, in part because of meeting formats. This meeting, held at the Rockefeller Conference Center in Bellagio, Italy, was designed to have international participation and to utilize a theme that was familiar and central to all of the disciplines involved. This core theme was the evolutionary and environmental dimensions of the release of bio-engineered organisms.