Biological confinement of GEOs: Opportunities for reducing environmental risks?

Abstract

The 2000 federal government interagency review of regulatory oversight of biotechnology products revealed that ensuring confinement could become a regulatory requirement for approval of some transgenic organisms. In 2001, the USDA asked the National Academies to review and evaluate biological methods and report on their application in confining transgenic crop plants, shellfish, trees, grasses, fish, microbes, insects and other organisms. Considerations of bioconfinement, when and why to consider it, bioconfinement of plants, animals, microorganisms, and biological and operational considerations for bioconfinement.