Coexistence

What does 'coexistence' mean?

Coexistence refers to the ability of farmers to choose the production system they prefer, whether it is conventional, organic or genetically modified (GM).

European Commission guidelines for coexistence

On 23 July 2003 the European Commission published “Guidelines for the development of national strategies and best practices to ensure the coexistence of genetically modified crops with conventional and organic farming” (2003/556/EC) to allow farmers to make a choice between conventional, organic and GM crop production. The Commission puts emphasis on the fact that guidelines for coexistence should exclusively focus on economic aspects and effects from cultivation since ecological and health aspects were already taken into account in the authorisation procedure for GMO. It is up to the Member States to develop and implement national measures for coexistence. However, in every crop sector, from certified seed to mainstream commodity production, practical tolerance levels must be applied to define a crop’s end-use quality and value according to its varietal purity or freedom from unwanted material. Thus, in 2004, a labelling threshold of 0.9 % became valid on an EU level for adventitious or technically unavoidable admixtures of GMO into food and feed products (1829/2003/EC). No such labelling threshold exists for seeds.

The Commission Recommendation of 13 July 2010 on guidelines for the development of national coexistence measures to avoid the unintended presence of GMOs in conventional and organic crops (http://ec.europa.eu/food/food/biotechnology/docs/new_recommendation_en.pdf), repealing 2003/556/EC, states that the objective of coexistence measures in areas where GMO are cultivated is to avoid unintended presence of GMOs in other products. Therefore it is considered as appropriate that measures to avoid the unintended presence of GMOs in conventional and organic crops should be developed at national and sometimes regional or local level. In addition, under certain economic and natural conditions, Member States should consider the possibility to exclude GMO cultivation from large areas of their territory.

National strategies for coexistence

One of the main purposes of the GenTG is to ensure coexistence, i.e., to ensure that GMO or products made from GMO do not uncontrollably mix with products originating from conventional or organic farming. The GenTG also defines liability rules to be applied in the case of GMO admixtures to neighbouring fields under conventional or organic farming. Crop species-specific details regarding coexistence are regulated by a separate guideline on “Good scientific practice for the cultivation of GMP”.

Responsibilities of SG

The institute SG develops and evaluates measures allowing a coexistence of farming with and without gene technology. Thanks to the competence acquired in various research projects, and documented in publications, JKI scientists are represented in national, European and international committees dealing with problems of coexistence on a scientific and on a regulatory level.

Research area 'coexistence'

Investigations into pollen- and seed-mediated gene flow which are an important basis for regulations to ensure the coexistence of agricultural farming methods with and without GMP have been performed at SG and its former institute in Braunschweig for 10 years. Among others, research focuses on

• Spread and persistence of GM oilseed rape;
• Out-crossing potentials of GM oilseed rape and maize;
• Effects of field size, isolation distance, intercropping and buffer strips on the extent of out-crossing;
• Strategies for sampling in the field;
• Analysis of number and distribution of maize fields in selected European regions;
• Consequences arising from GM seed admixture on the harvest product.

Research area 'biological containment'

With the aim to limit the spread of transgenes, basic data on the development and application of biological containment strategies to reduce pollen- and seed-mediated gene flow between non-transgenic and transgenic plants are collected. Among others, the subjects worked on are:

1. Persistence of oilseed rape genotypes of varying dormancy in the agricultural practice,
2. Quantitative recording of the reliability of cytoplasmatic male sterile maize,
3. Quantitative recording of the reliability of cleistogamy in oilseed rape,
4. Investigations into the stability of transplastomic tobacco as a confinement strategy.