Though well accepted in medical and pharmaceutical applications, biotechnology and gene technology are a matter of controversy in agricultural use and the production of foodstuffs. The general public sees the deliberate release of new, genetically modified plants (GMPs) as a threat to the quality of our environment and links GMPs with unwanted and unperceivable risks.
The National Research Programme “Benefits and Risks of the Deliberate Release of Genetically Modified Plants“ (NRP 59 ) aims to study the application potential of plant biotechnology in Switzerland, paying particular attention to the benefits and risks of biotechnology. This NRP should also look at the problems involved in risk management on the legal, political and administrative levels.
For reasons of cost and image, the question of the commercial release of GMPs in Switzerland may never need to be debated. This NRP should make an important contribution to the subject, regardless of any future decision.
Overall funding: CHF 12'000'000
Duration: 4 Years
President of the steering comittee: Dirk Dobbelaere, Abteilung Molekulare Pathologie, Vetsuisse Fakultät, Universität Bern
Implementation Officer: Beat Glogger, scitec-media GmbH, Winterthur
Programme coordinator: Pascal Walther, SNSF
Submission of preproposals: 31 August 2006