b'How Safe is Plant Breeding Really?DEBATES IN SOCIETYabout gene editing andWe have not encountered major food safety crises cisgenesis revolve next to ethics and corporateas a result of plant breedingpossibly with the excep-control around safety. Can we guarantee that thetion of a recent casualty in Germany of a person dying varieties coming out of the technology are safe forof eating too much of his home-bred squash. man and environment? is the question that we oftenThe answer is that apparently plant breeding is safe get. The word safe is a complex one, and guaran- by design. Professional breeders know their croptee even more so. National regulatory formulationsthey know when toxins occur in the genus that they may differ, but obviously, every producer is responsi- work with. For example, potato (nightshade family) NIELS LOUWAARS ble for the safety of their products. However, breedersbreeders know that they may run into trouble when is the managinghave not been bothered by that responsibility muchcrossing with wild Solanum species. In the Netherlands, director at Plantum.until genetic modification came along, when extensivebreeders have introduced a standard for solanine This article does nottests were introduced to test safety.levels in the variety release procedure for this reason. necessarily reflect theBut, can we guarantee that our products are safe?Secondly, haphazard emergence of toxins in food views of all PlantumBiology does all kinds of awkward things (it even cre- crops apparently does not happen. I guess that this is members. ated the human species . ). We are a very long waybecause mutations that would induce such pathways from understanding all metabolic pathways, all GxEwould likely also create other off type characters that interactions or even all chemical compounds in plants.the breeder will identify in the selection processes. In With the testing protocols for GMOs society created aaddition, such extra pathways would likely come at a standard for safety, but a safety-guarantee is impossi- cost to the plant. They likely dont stand a chance in ble. Science philosophers have clearly indicated that ityield trials, so, opposite to nature, such plants do have is possible to prove that something is not safetherean evolutionary disadvantage in breeding. is no scientific methodology to prove safety. That isWhat do we learn from this? Breeding has proven to true for genetic modification (or gene editing for thatbe safe over many years and using a variety of breeding matter), but also for conventional plant breeding.techniques. If breeding does not produce any completely Since biology is complex and unpredictable, whynovel plants that could not develop through convention-then have we not run into all kinds of food safety issuesally used breeding methods, and when the breeding in plant breeding over the past 150 years? Is it becausesystem continues to involve breeders with plant (tax-nature is so benevolent? Is it because our knowledgeonomy) next to (bio)technological knowledge, and uses of plants is so deep that we know all risks? Or is some- several field trials before a new variety is released to thing else at play? farmers, then we should be able to confidently accept Firstnature is by definition dangerous. Plantsour responsibility to produce safe products.in nature that protect themselves through physi- When, despite that, society wants extensive genetic cal (thorns, hairs, cell wall characteristics), chemicaland biochemical tests, let alone feeding trials, for (toxins, attractants, repellents) or biochemical/geneticproducts of gene editing, society should realize that (resistances, CRISPR) means have a competitivethis may provide a safe feeling rather than a safety advantage in evolution. Mankind has avoided the firstguarantee. Since such varieties are not substantially two mechanisms to a large extent when selecting thedifferent from conventionally bred ones, it would then plants for domestication. Still, we eat cassava with cya- be logical to apply such tests to all new varieties (in nide, beans with lectins and quinoa with saponins, butThe Netherlands over 2000 each year). luckily, we have learned to process such foods to avoidSociety then has to realize that consumers finally intoxication.bear the costs, accept that fewer varieties (biodiver-With regard to our knowledge of biology, we knowsity) will be released and that fewer breeders will be that mutations occur every day during but also afterable to deal with the legal and financial complexities of variety development. These may create new or divertsuch tests. existing metabolic pathways in the cell, which mayHow safe is plant breeding really? Guarantees do finally produce toxins or allergens. Such unexpectednot exist in biology, but the risk assessment that breed-effects may also occur with new farming systems (e.g.ers, implicitly or explicitly apply has proven that we fertilization) or food processing methods.operate very responsibly. SWJANUARY 2020SEEDWORLD.COM /75'