Virus-Resistant Transgenic Horticultural Crops: Safety Issues and Lessons from Risk Assessment Studies - Transgenic Horticultural Crops: Challenges and Opportunities - page 281

for. the. production. of. these. antibodies. 132 . The. potential. risks. of. these. technologies.
remain.largely.undiscussed.and.untested.

CONCLUSIONS
To.date.only.a.handful.of.horticultural.transgenic.crops,.including.vegetable.crops.
(summer.squash,.sweet.pepper,.tomato,.and.sweet.corn).and.one.fruit.crop.(papaya).
are.available.commercially..Most.of.these.crops.have.been.engineered.for.virus.resis-
tance.(summer.squash,.sweet.pepper,.tomato,.and.papaya),.while.sweet.corn.has.been.
developed.for.insect.tolerance..Noteworthy,.the.majority.of.virus-resistant.transgenic.
crops.were.released.over.a.decade.ago..Why.have.not.more.transgenic.horticultural.
crops. been. released?. Though. a. virus-resistant. transgenic. plum. has. been. deregu-
lated.in.the.United.States,.why.have.transgenic.horticultural.crops.not.been.released.
recently?.Can.safety.issues.be.held.accountable.for.the.limited.number.of.transgenic.
horticultural. crops. released. commercially?.As. discussed. in. this. chapter,. extensive.
research.on.risk.assessment.of.transgenic.horticultural.crops.has.been.carried.out.in.
various.environments.and.varied.conditions.of.disease.and.pest.pressure. 2,14,45,62,133 .
This.wealth.of.information.implies.that.safety.issues.should.not.hinder.the.release.of.
new.horticultural.crops.that.are.engineered.based.on.the.identical.or.similar.technol-
ogies.to.those.used.for.the.development.of.the.transgenic.horticultural.crops.already.
released..Factors.other.than.safety.issues.(e.g.,.institutional,.policy,.and.economical.
factors). are. apparently. playing. more. important. roles. worldwide. in. stymieing. the.
adoption.of.transgenic.horticultural.crops. 134-136

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. 2.. Fuchs,. M.. and. Gonsalves,. D.,. Safety. of. virus. resistant. transgenic. plants. two. decades.

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