Genetically-modified olive flies will be released in a Catalan olive grove if a field trial proposed by British biotech company Oxitec is approved in Spain.
nnAccording to German expert group Testbiotech, which opposes the trial, it would be the first release of GM animals in the European Union. The olive fly u2013 Bactrocera (Dacus) oleae u2013 is one of the key pests affecting olive cultivation and is managed mainly via pesticides. Oxitec believes its modified olive fly strain u2013 called OX3097Du2010Bol and developed about three years ago u2013 offers a more effective, chemical-free solution.
After what it says were promising greenhouse trials, Oxitec seeks approval to release its flies about 8 km from the port in Tarragona, one of Cataloniau2019s main olive oil production regions. Itu2019s understood that six nets would each cover various trees and the trial would last 2-3 months. Oxitec says it wants to test the mating competitiveness, longevity and persistence of the fly in the field.
Female offspring die in the larval stage
In information sent to the European Commission in January, Oxitec said only males would be released. On mating with wild females, any resulting female offspring would fail to develop beyond the late larval stages. u201cNo significant interactions are anticipated. The modification is limited to the olive fly by reproductive barriers. If the OX3097Du2010Bol olive fly is eaten by predators present at the release site the inserted genetic traits are not anticipated to have any toxic effect,u201d it also said.
Catalan government says exhaustive evaluation needed before decisions
A spokeswoman for the Catalan Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, Food and Environment told Olive Oil Times that Oxitecu2019s application had been referred to the Catalan Biosafety Commission. Before any decision was made, an exhaustive risk assessment of the proposed trial, a 30-day public information period, and consultation with experts and stakeholders were among the steps required, involving both the Catalan Commission and the Spanish National Commission of Biosafety. She said the company was interested in using about 48 olive trees in Tarragona over an area of about 0.16ha and had indicated that it had also applied to release its flies in Italy and Greece.
Oxitec says its strain can quickly wipe out wild olive flies
Oxitec has yet to reply to requests from Olive Oil Times for more information. However, Oxitec CEO Hadyn Parry told Spanish media that because female offspring of the Oxitec strain fail to reach adulthood, u201cthey canu2019t mate and the plague gradually disappears.u201d And in an article published in January, Michael Conway, a PhD student at the University of Oxford and Oxitec, said that in recent greenhouse trials, u201cOxitecu2019s modified olive fly strain proved itself a highly effective weapon, eliminating a wild-type population in less than two months.u201d u201cIt is an approach that we are confident is more economic, greener, and more sustainable than any existing alternative,u201d he said.
Fears of escape and unforeseen impacts
Public interest scientific group Testbiotechu2019s spokesman Christoph Then said among the groupu2019s fears were those male descendants of the GM flies, which unlike the females could mate and propagate further, would escape and spread without control. u201cIf the genetically engineered flies escape, the harvest in the regions concerned would become non-marketable. Genetically engineered larvae living inside the olives are not allowed for food consumption in the E.U.u201d u201cThe Oxitec insects are manipulated with synthetic DNA, which is a mix of maritime organisms, bacteria, viruses and other insects. It is not known how these insects will interact with changing environmental conditions, so far they have only been bred in the laboratory,u201d he said.
Sources:
Summary notification information format for the release of OX3097Du2010BOL olive fly, Oxitec, 3rd Jan 2013 Un eju00e9rcito de moscas transgu00e9nicas podru00edan acabar con la mosca del olivo en Tarragona, 11/08/2013 Greeceu2019s devastating oil fly threat: a solution Plans to release genetically engineered flies in Spain and Italy, Testbioetech, August 2013
