Plant biotechnology and genetically modified varieties

Agriculture underwent major changes in the 20th century in both developed and emerging countries. Machinery replaced human and animal power. Chemistry synthesized molecules to combat crop pests. The fertilizer industry provided the elements needed to increase crop yields. The selection of plant varieties has become an essential element in generating or accompanying this progress. In 1955, we had to harvest 55 ha and spend 1,512 hours of work to harvest 100 t of wheat. In 2005, all we needed was 13 ha and 6 h 30!

These advances are based on innovations that are themselves the result of the application of new knowledge contributed by the physical, mechanical, chemical, biological and agronomic sciences.

The specific field of plant variety creation exploits, through various methods and techniques, knowledge of the genetics of species, their spontaneous or induced variability, the possibilities of crossing with other species, and the biology of their vegetative or sexual reproduction. Their distribution is based on plant or seed production capacities, in compliance with the rules that authorize their commercialization, while breeders benefit from those that protect them from counterfeiters.

In this context, the discovery of the possibility of DNA exchanges between species (other than by hybridization) and advances in the engineering of this molecule made it possible, in the early 1980s, to produce the first genetically modified plants (or GMPs), which were concretely introduced into the creation of varieties of different species around ten years later.

The general methods used to produce transgenic plants and the issues surrounding the use of GMPs in food and feed and the assessment of their food safety have already been covered in a previous article in Techniques de l'Ingénieur (see [BIO 8 100] ), and we won't be returning to them here.

2013 was the eighteenth year of GMP cultivation worldwide, with spectacular growth since the total area that has been cultivated with GMPs during this period represents more than the world's arable land area. Many countries have embarked on this path of research. Better management of water, fertilizers and pesticides, improved product quality and even the production of medicines are examples of the objectives actively pursued through the production of transgenic plants, which make the most of the latest biological knowledge.

Far from encouraging this...