Abstract
Social policies are used to regulate how members of a society interact and share resources. If we expand our sense of community to include the ecosystem of which we are a part, we begin to develop an ethical obligation to this broader community. This ethic recognizes that the environment has intrinsic value, and each of us, as members of society, are ethically bound to preserve its sustainability. In assessing the environmental risks of new agricultural methods and technologies, society should not freely trade economic gains for ecological damage, but rather seek practices that are compatible with ecosystem health. This approach is used to evaluate the environmental risks associated with genetically engineered insect-resistant trees. The use of insect-resistant trees is a biologically based pest control strategy that has several advantages over pesticide use. However, the use of genetically engineered trees presents particular ecological concerns because the trees are long lived and often are not highly domesticated. The main environmental concerns reviewed include: (1) adaptation of pests to the trees, leading to a non-sustainable agricultural practice, (2) transgenic trees producing environmental toxins, (3) insect resistance enhancing the invasiveness of the tree, causing it to become weedy or invade wild habitats, and (4) transfer of the transgene to wild or feral relatives of the tree, possibly increasing the invasiveness of weeds or wild plants. Some methods are available to offset these risks; however, the environmental risks associated with this technology have been poorly researched and need to be more clearly identified so that when we evaluate the risks, it is based on the best information obtainable. To fulfil an ethical obligation to the environment, public policies and government regulations are needed to preserve the sustainability of both the environment and the future of our production systems. A better understanding of both the ecological issues and of genetic engineering in general are needed on the part of citizens and policy makers alike to ensure that sound environmental decisions are made. Otherwise, the environmental benefits of this technology, mainly decreasing the use of more toxic pesticides in tree crops and forests, will either be lost or traded for other environmental hazards.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Addison, J. A. (1993), “Persistence and nontarget effects of Bacillus thuringiensis in soil: A review,” Canadian Journal of Forest Research 23: 2329–2342.
Altman, D. W., J. H. Benedict, and E. S. Sachs (1996), “Transgenic plants for the development of durable insect resistance,” in G. B. Collins and R. J. Sheppard (eds.), Engineering plants for commercial products and applications [Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 792] (pp. 106–114). New York: New York Academy of Sciences.
Balciunas, J. K., D. W. Burrows, and M. F. Purcells (1994), “Field and laboratory host ranges of the Australian wee-vil, Oxyops vitiosa (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), a potential biological control agent for the paperbark tree, Melaleuca quinquenervia,” Biological Control 4: 351–360.
Barbour, I. G. (1980), Technology, environment, and human values. New York: Praeger Scientific.
Barrett, S. C. H. (1983), “Crop mimicry in weeds,” Economic Botany 37: 255–282.
Bauer, L. S. (1995), “Resistance: A threat to the insecticidal crystal proteins of Bacillus thuringiensis,” Florida Entomologist 87: 414–443.
Corbin, D. R., J. T. Greenplate, E. Y. Wong, and J. P. Pur-cell (1994), “Cloning of an insecticidal cholesterol oxidase gene and its expression in bacteria and in plant protoplasts,” Applied and Environmental Microbiology 60: 4239–4244.
Crawley, M. J. (1989), “Insect herbivores and plant population dynamics,” Annual Review of Entomology 34: 531–564.
Crickmore, N., D. R. Zeigler, J. Feitelson, E. Schnepf, D. Lereclus, J. Baum, J. Van Rie, and D. H. Dean (1997), Bacillus thuringiensis delta-endotoxin nomenclature. WWWsite http://www.susx.ac.uk/Home/Neil Crickmore/Bt/ index.html.
Croft, B. A. (1992), “IPMsystems that conserve pesticides, pest resistant plants and biological controls, including geneti-cally altered forms,” Journal of the Entomological Society of South Africa 55: 107–121.
Denholm, I., and M. W. Rowland (1992), “Tactics for Managing pesticide resistance in arthropods: theory and practice,” Annual Review of Entomology 37: 91–112.
Diehl, S. R., and G. L. Bush (1984), “An evolutionary and applied perspective of insect biotypes,” Annual Review of Entomology 29: 471–504.
Donegan, K. K., C. J. Palm, V. J. Fieland, L. A. Porteous, L. M. Ganio, D. L. Schaller, L. Q. Bucao, and R. J. Seidler (1995), “Changes in levels, species, and DNA fingerprints of soil microorganisms associated with cotton expressing the Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki endotoxin,” Applied Soil Ecology 2: 111–124.
Dover, M. J., and B. A. Croft (1986), “Pesticide resistance and public policy,” BioScience 36: 78–85.
Ellis, D. D., D. E. McCabe, S. McInnis, R. Ramachandran, D. R. Russell, K. M. Wallace, B. J. Martinell, D. R. Roberts, K. F. Raffa, and B. H. McCown (1993), “Stable transformation of Picea glauca by particle acceleration,” Bio/Technology 11: 84–89.
Falconer, D. S. (1989), Introduction to quantitative genetics. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Flexner, J. L, P. H. Westigard, R. Hilton, and B. A. Croft (1995), “Experimental evaluation of resistance management for twospotted spider mite (Acari: Tetranychidae) on southern Oregon pear,” Journal of Economic Entomology 88: 1517–1524.
Frey, K. J., J. A. Browning, and M. D. Simons (1977), “Management systems for host genes to control disease loss,” Annals of the New York Academy of Science 287: 255–274.
Gatehouse, A. M. R., V. A. Hilder, K. S. Powell, M. Wang, G. M. Davison, L. N. Gatehouse, R. E. Down, H. S. Edmonds, D. Boulter, C. A. Newell, A. Merryweather, W. D. O. Hamilton, and J. A. Gatehouse (1994), “Insect-resistant transgenic plants: choosing the gene to do the ‘job’,” Biochemical Society Transactions 22: 944–948.
Georgiou, G. (1986), “Factors influencing the evolution of resistances,” in National Research Council (ed.), Pesticide resistance: Strategies and tactics for management (pp. 157–169). Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences Press.
Granahan, G. H., C. A. Leslie, A. M. Dandekar, S. L. Uratsu, and I. E. Yates (1993), “Transformation of pecan and regeneration of transgenic plants,” Plant Cell Reports 12: 634–638.
Haissig, B. E. (1995), Benefits and detriments of deploying genetically engineered woody biomass crops. Palo Alto: Electric Power Research Institute, EPRI TR-104896, Project 3407.
Hokkanen, H. M. T., and C. H. Wearing (1994), “A safe and rational deployment of Bacillus thuringiensis genes in crop plants: Conclusions and recommendations of OECD work-shop on ecological implications of transgenic crops containing Bt-toxin genes,” Biocontrol Science and Technology 4: 399–403.
Hollander, R. D. (1990), “Moral responsibility, values, and making decisions about biotechnology,” in S. M. Gendel, A. D. Kline, D. M. Warren and F. Yates (eds.), Agricultural bioethics: Implications of agricultural biotechnology (pp. 279–291). Ames: Iowa State University Press.
Holm, L. G., D. L. Pluckett, J. V. Pancho, and J. P. Herberger (1977), The worlds worst weeds. Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii.
Immaraju, J. A., J. G. Morse, and R. F. Hobza (1990), “Field evaluation of insecticide rotation and mixtures as strategies for citrus thrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) resistance management in California,” Journal of Economic Entomology 83: 306–314.
James, R. R., S. P. DiFazio, A. M. Brunner, and S. H. Strauss (in review), “Environmental effects of genetically engineered woody biomass crops,” Biomass and Bioenergy.
Johnson, M. T., and F. Gould (1992), “Interaction of genetically engineered host plant resistance and natural enemies of Heliothis virescens (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in tobacco,” Environmental Entomology 21: 586–597.
Jongsma, M. A., P. L. Bakker, J. Peters, D. Bosch, and W. J. Stiekema (1995), “Adaptation of Spodoptera exigua larvae to plant proteinase inhibitors by induction of gut proteinase insensitive to inhibition,” Proceedings of the National Acadamy of Science 92: 8041–8045.
Kansmoentalib, S. (1996), “Science and values in risk assessment: the case of deliberate release of genetically engineered organisms,” Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 9: 42–60.
Keiding, J. (1986), “Prediction or resistance risk assessment,” in National Research Council (ed.), Pesticide resistance: Strategies and tactics for management (pp. 279–297). Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences Press.
Kennedy, G. G., F. Gould, O. M. B. Deponti, and R. E. Stinner (1987), “Ecological, agricultural, genetic, and commercial considerations in the deployment of insect-resistant germplasm,” Environmental Entomology 16: 327–338.
Kiyosawa, S. (1982), “Genetics and epidemiological modeling of breakdown of plant disease resistance,” Annual Review of Phytopathology 20: 93–117.
Kreutzweiser, D. P., J. L. Gringorten, D. R. Thomas, and J. T. Butcher (1996), “Functional effects of the bacterial insecticide Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki on aquatic microbial communities,” Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 33: 271–280.
Lehman, H. (1995), Rationality and ethics in agriculture. Moscow, ID: University of Idaho Press.
Leonard, K. J., and R. J. Czochor (1980), “Theory of genetic interactions among populations of plants and their pathogens,”Annual Review of Phytopathology 18: 237–258.
Leopold, A. (1966), A Sand County almanac, with essays on conservation from Round River. New York: Ballantine Books.
Leplè, J. C., M. Bonadè-Bottino, S. Augustin, G. Pilate, V. D. Lê Tân, A. Delplaque, D. Cornu, and L. Jouanin (1995), “Toxicity to Chrysomela tremulae (Coleoptera: Chryso-melidae) of transgenic poplars expressing a cysteine proteinase inhibitor,” Molecular Breeding 1: 319–328.
Mallet, J., and P. Porter (1992), “Preventing insect adaptation to insect-resistant crops: Are seed mixtures or refugia the best strategy?,” Proceedings of the Royal Society of LondonB250: 165–169.
Manasse, R., and P. Kareiva (1991), “Quantifying the spread of recombinant genes and organisms,” in L. R. Ginzburg (ed.), Assessing ecological risks of biotechnology (pp. 215–231). Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann.
May, R. M., and A. P. Dobson (1986), “Population dynamics and the rate of evolution of pesticide resistance,” in National Research Council (ed.), Pesticide resistance: Strategies and tactics for management (pp. 170–193). Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences Press.
McCown, B. H., D. E. McCabe, D. R. Russell, D. J. Robinson, K. A. Barton, and K. E. Raffa (1991), “Stable transformation of Populus and incorporation of pest-resistance by electric discharge particle acceleration,” Plant Cell Reports 9: 590–594.
McGaughey, W. H., and M. E. Whalon (1992), “Managing insect resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis toxins,” Science 258: 1451–1455.
Meade, T., and J. D. Hare (1995), “Integration of host plant resistance and Bacillus thuringiensis insecticides in the management of lepidopterous pests of celery,” Journal of Economic Entomology 88: 1787–1794.
Palm, C. J., K. Donegan, D. Harris, and R. J. Seidler (1994), “Quantification in soil of Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki δ-endotoxin from transgenic plants,” Molecular Ecology 3: 145–151.
Palm, C. J., D. L. Schaller, K. K. Donegan, and R. J. Seidler (1996), “Persistence in soil of transgenic plant produced Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki δ-endotoxin,” Canadian Journal of Microbiology (in press).
Pang, S. Z., S. M. Oberhaus, J. L. Rasmussen, and D. C. Knipple (1992), “Expression of a gene encoding a scorpion insecto-toxin peptide in yeast, bacteria and plants,” Gene 116: 165–172.
Pimentel, D. (1995), “Amounts of pesticides reaching target pests: Environmental impacts and ethics,” Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 8: 17–29.
Pimentel, D., H. Acquay, M. Biltonen, P. Rice, M. Silva, J. Nelson, V. Lipner, S. Giordano, A. Horowitz, and M. D'Amore (1992), “Environmental and economic costs of pesticide use,” BioScience 42: 750–760.
Raffa, K. F. (1989), “Genetic engineering of trees to enhance resistance to insects,” BioScience 39: 524–534.
Regal, P. J. (1994), “Scientific principles for ecologically based risk assessment of transgenic organisms,” Molecular Ecology 3: 5–13.
Rissler, J., and M. Mellon (1993), Perils amidst the promise, ecological risks of transgenic crops in a global market. Cambridge, MA: Union of Concerned Scientists.
Rissler, J., and M. Mellon (1996), The ecological risks of engineered crops. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Robinson, D. J., B. H. McCown, and K. Raffa (1994), “Responses of gypsy moth (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae) and forest tent caterpillar (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae) to transgenic poplar, Populus spp., containing a Bacillus thuringiensis δ-endotoxin gene,” Environmental Entomology 23: 1030–1041.
Shafroth, P. B., G. T. Auble, and M. L. Scott (1995), “Germination and establishment of the native plains cottonwood (Populus deltoides Marshall subspp. monilifera) and the exotic Russian-olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia L.),” Conservation Biology 9: 1169–1175.
Shin, D. I., G. K. Podila, and D. F. Karnosky (1994), “Transgenic larch expressing genes for herbicide and insect resistance,” Canadian Journal of Forest Research 24: 2059–2067.
Strauss, S. H., W. H. Rottman, A. M. Brunner, and L. A. Sheppard (1995), “Genetic engineering of reproductive sterility in forest trees,” Molecular Breeding 1: 5–26.
Tabashnik, B. E. (1994a), “Evolution of resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis,” Annual Review of Entomology 39: 47–79.
Tabashnik, B. E. (1994b), “Delaying insect adaptation to trans-genic plants: Seed mixtures and refugia reconsidered,” Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B255: 7–12.
Tapp, H., and G. Stotzky (1995), “Insecticidal activity of the toxins from Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies kurstaki and tenebrionis adsorbed and bound on pure clay soils,” Applied Environmental Microbiology 61: 1786–1790.
Thompson, P. B. (1995), The spirit of the soil: Agriculture and environmental ethics. New York: Routledge.
Thompson, P. B., R. J. Johnson, and E. O. van Ravenswaay (1994), Ethics, policy, and Agriculture. New York: Mac-millan.
Thoms, E. M., and T. F. Watson (1986), “Effect of Dipel (Bacillus thuringiensis on the survival of immature and adult Hyposoter exiguae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae),” Journal of Invertebrate Pathology 47: 178–183.
Tiedje, J. M., R. K. Colwell, Y. L. Grossman, R. E. Hodson, R. E. Lenski, R. N. Mack, and P. J. Regal (1989), “The planned introduction of genetically engineered organisms: Ecological considerations and recommendations,” Ecology 70: 298–315.
USDA, APHIS, and BBEP (1996), Biotechnology permits. WWWsite http://www.aphis.usda.gov/bbep/bp/status.html.
Wallner, W. E., R. N. Dubois, and P. S. Grinberg (1983), “Alteration of parasitism by Rogas lymantriae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) in Bacillus thuringiensis-stressed gypsy moth (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae) hosts,” Journal of Economic Entomology 76: 275–277.
Ward, M. (1996), “PGS-AgrEvo deal stirs up plant biotechnology,” Nature Biotechnology 14: 1210.
Wearing, C. H., and H. M. T. Hokkanen (1995), “Pest resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis: Ecological crop assessment for Bt gene incorporation and strategies of management,” in H. M. T. Hokkanen and J. M. Lynch (eds.), Biological control: Costs and benefits (pp. 236–252). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wipfli, M. S., and R. W. Merritt (1994), “Effects of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis on nontarget benthic insects through direct and indirect exposure,” Journal of the North American Benthological Society 13: 190–205.
Wiseman, B. R. (1994), “Plant resistance to insects in integrated pest management,” Plant Disease 78: 927–932.
Wrubel, R. P., S. Krimsky, and R. E. Wetzler (1992), “Field testing transgenic plants,” BioScience 42: 280–289.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
James, R.R. Utilizing a social ethic toward the environment in assessing genetically engineered insect-resistance in trees. Agriculture and Human Values 14, 237–249 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007408811726
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007408811726