The science and intricacy of environmental safety evaluations

Safety issues in biotechnology are subject to considerable controversy in public debate. Public concern is focused in particular on the degree of uncertainty associated with inadvertent and unforeseeable impacts of the deliberate or accidental release of genetically engineered organisms into the environment. The objective of this article is to demonstrate that there is a factual, scientific basis to environmental safety issues, by means of which the real, case-specific hazards requiring serious consideration by scientists, representatives of regulatory agencies and the public can be distinguished from conjectural hazards and naturally occurring background processes.