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INRA’s science policy on plant biotechnologies
Board of Directors, 27/06/2007
As a public organisation INRA is dedicated to mission-oriented research, by developing mainly life sciences, in the fields of agriculture, food and nutrition, the rural environment.
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INRA:
- Recognises the importance of agriculture for sustainable development, as well as the new economic, social and environmental challenges linked to the increasing demand for food, feed, fiber and bioenergy,
- Recognises the role of innovation and the potential of plant biotechnologies to meet these challenges and contribute to building a competitive, sustainable and diversified agriculture, taking into account the related environmental, social and economic risks,
- Strives to remain a major world player, to maintain expertise in these areas in French public organisations and to make possible the controlled development of biotechnologies,
INRA agrees to:
- Foster scientific knowledge on plant biotechnologies by supporting research on molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in the organisation of genomes and gene expression, particularly epigenetic processes, and by reinforcing systems biology approaches to studying plants and their interactions with their environments, pests and pathogens (1);
- Develop methods and techniques to make plant biotechnologies more effective, and contribute to innovations, whether or not they involve transgenesis, aimed at collective interest (2) to overcome crucial challenges for agriculture, food and nutrition and the environment; these goals will be designed with a view to understanding their integration into ecosystems and social systems. Transgenesis will be an option, opened after comparative assessment of other potential innovative approaches, where those alternatives are not satisfactory: in that event, the research process will be an open one involving all stakeholders (3);
- Constitute accessible public resources by organising, preserving and distributing open collections of genetic and genomic resources, by establishing, together with CIRAD, technical platforms that will be accessible, especially by its Southern partners, and by setting up patent bundles;
- Build national capacity for public expert assessments by conducting research on comprehensive, systemic and multidisciplinary analysis and assessment, over space and time, of the benefits, impacts and risks of the various types of innovation, whether or not they involve transgenesis;
- Help public and private users tap into biotechnologies within the framework of open, pre-competitive projects or by providing training in all the areas concerned;
Moreover INRA agrees to:
- Ensure that work processes do not only comply with current regulations, its charter on intellectual property (4) and safety requirements for experimental protocols through gradual changes in scale (5), but also provide clear, publicly available information on the research topics and methodologies chosen, as well as INRA’s results;
- Open up dialogue internally and with all stakeholders, with respect to the advantages, risks and overall impact of plant biotechnologies;
- Promote national and international cooperation with partners having the same values and objectives.
References: (1) Opinion of INRA Scientific Advisory Board (May 2006) (2) Opinion of INRA Ethics Committee (COMEPRA) (3) Management response with regard to Colmar experiments (January 2003) (4) INRA Charter on Intellectual Property(5) INRA’s position on unconfined GMO field trials (June 2005).
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Written by :
Board of Directors
Label for the news :
Article
Date for the news :
2011.03.08
Date of creation : 26/06/2007
Date of last update : 24/09/2007
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