Confined Field Trials of Transgenic Cassava in Puerto Rico: Tackling Malnourishment in Africa

Micronutrient deficiencies affect millions of children in sub-Saharan Africa. Vitamin A deficiency alone renders 250,000-500,000 children blind annually, while 23% of pre-school aged children suffer from iron deficiency anemia. Though cassava contains very low levels of pro-vitamin A and micronutrients it is the staple food in sub-Saharan Africa due to agronomic and caloric benefits coupled with cultural preferences. With the intention of ameliorating malnourishment in Africa, ‘BioCassava Plus Program’ has generated genetically enhanced cassava fortified with β-carotene and Iron. To properly gauge the engineered trait’s performance under natural environmental conditions, confined field trials of these transgenic plant lines are being conducted in the fields at the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez. Adhering to all biosafety regulation of the Animal Health and Plant inspection Services of the USDA, 66 transgenic lines have been evaluated so far. The primary biosafety criteria been observed in conducting transgenic field trials are ‘confinement’ and ‘isolation’. Confinement is being achieved by restricting access for animals and unauthorized personnel while isolation is being achieved by having a minimum separation distance from other planted cassava, removal of flowers prior to anthesis and by the addition of a border row of non-transgenic cassava plants of the same age and variety. Furthermore, all excess plant material is being mechanically shredded and buried on-site immediately after harvest. The platform built, through many years of field evaluation of transgenic cassava, has also been utilized to conduct field trials with transgenic cowpea and sweet potato as well.