TÉRA: A tool for the environmental risk assessment of genetically modified plants

Environmental risk assessment (ERA) of the deliberate release of genetically modified plants is a very complex task, due to several environmental parameters to take into consideration to end up with a reliable decision. In the European Union, ERA is currently performed by the human experts on the basis of their own personal experience and knowledge. In this paper, a software tool, TÉRA, for the ERA of genetically modified plants, is proposed. TÉRA has the aim of helping the experts in making a proper risk assessment. TÉRA, based on a fuzzy inference engine, is conceived as a client-server architecture implemented in the form of a web application. TÉRA decisions, performed on field trial case studies, have been validated by a pool of ERA experts not involved in the TÉRA development.