Dr. Di-Giovanni, Airzone One’s Senior Modeler and Manager for the CFIA Project
Airzone One staff has begun work on a contract for the Plant Biosafety Office of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to develop a dispersal simulation model for plant pollen released into the air. The CFIA is the government agency that regulates agricultural and silvicultural release of plants with novel traits into the environment. PNTs are new varieties or plant genotypes produced by conventional breeding, mutagenesis or by recombinant DNA (or “genetic engineering”).
Environmental risk assessments are required for all PNTs intended for importation and environmental release in Canada. The risk assessment considers the impact of pollen flow from PNTs to surrounding environments since the movement of pollen from PNT-planted fields may result in gene flow to sexually compatible species or potential impacts on non-target organisms.
Our present understanding of pollen movement in agricultural and silvicultural environments is based on information from field research. This empirical information is not necessarily applicable to field locations, environmental conditions or seasons other than those specifically studied. Physical modeling of airborne pollen movement addresses the limitations of field-based observations by providing predictive tools to assess the appropriateness of different isolation methods
Airzone One staff are focusing on wheat pollen movement initially. Such methods will allow definitive assessments of the risk of an isolation zone breach, or to seek isolation methods to fit tolerance limits for varietal purity or product contamination.
Airzone One is an air quality consulting company specializing in research-intensive, cutting-edge applications. Airzone One has built significant capabilities in assessing the environmental impacts of agricultural operations. Coupled with the increased interest in the environmental impact of large-scale agricultural operations Airzone One has identified a need for the agricultural industry to investigate environmental impacts and intends to assist in fulfilling those needs for indoor and outdoor air quality issues.
For more information on this project, or other AirZOne services, contact Franco Di-Giovanni (Tel: 905-890-6957 ext. 102, or send us an email).