Regulation of technologies using recombinant DNA (rDNA) methods and organisms has eased
considerably over the past 30 years. Most of the previous risk assessments focused on the
possibility of a recombinant organism or its genetic element establishing itself in the
environment if it escaped from a laboratory or cell culture or fermentation facility.
Since those assessments were conducted, deliberate releases of recombinant organisms have
taken place in various agricultural field trials. This paper reviews the available risk
assessments regarding rDNA in the environment and considers the possibility of horizontal
gene transfer from eu-karyotic cells, released via industrial cell culture or fermentation
process waste streams, to prokaryotic cells in the environment.
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