Advice on containment measures for activities involving arthropod biological control agents

Biological control agents may be introduced into greenhouses and growth chambers where genetically modified (GM) plants are grown to protect the plants against pests. Adequate containment measures should be observed to prevent biological control agents from escaping, as they may be carrying pollen from the GM plant and subsequently come into contact with a crossable relative of the GM plant outside the greenhouse.

In previous advisory reports on containment measures to be taken when specific arthropod biological control agents are used in greenhouses, different containment measures were advised depending on the characteristics of the biological control agent. To simplify and streamline licence applications for new biological control agents, COGEM has drawn up a set of generic measures based on three characteristics of these arthropods: their capacity for flight, their size, and whether they can come into contact with pollen. Also, an overview of all the arthropod biological control agents in general use and the containment measures required for their release into a PKb-I research greenhouse containing flowering GM plants was prepared. If biological control agents are used in a PKb-I greenhouse containing GM plants that are not found in the Netherlands, do not have any crossable relatives here, or do not flower, no additional measures are necessary because the risk of outcrossing in these situations is negligible.