Concerns of GM foods

Concerns of people with regards to GM foods

Other frequently asked questions would be ‘what if I eat DNA in GM food?’, ‘How about allergens and toxins in GM foods?’, ‘Concerns of antibiotic resistance genes in GM foods’ and ‘What about herbicides and pesticides residues in GM foods?’. Firstly, we eat DNA from our everyday food which will be broken down in the digestive system into building blocks and can be metabolized by body cells. Eating DNA from GM or conventional foods will not change our own DNA or that of our children. Secondly, certain proteins in food can cause unusual immune reaction are known as allergens. If conventional foods contain allergens, GM foods similarly contain the same allergens. But food monitoring bodies will check to ensure the level of these naturally occurring allergens in GM foods does not increased significantly and new proteins found in GM foods are not allergenic. Same for toxin, toxic substances that are naturally present in many conventional foods can also is found in GM foods. Thus, government bodies would compare the usual amount of these naturally-occurring toxins that are found in the conventional with the GM foods to ensure that the toxins level consumed are not harmful to health. New protein in GM food is also check if it is toxic, if it is toxic and may cause adverse health effects at levels of expected dietary intake, it would not be approved for sale. Thirdly, the worries of people about consuming antibiotic resistance genes in GM foods is it could transfer to disease-causing bacteria in human digestive tract and could results in infections that are resistant to treatment with antibiotics. But antibiotic resistance genes that are currently present in GM foods are not widely used in human medicine because resistance to them is already widespread. Lastly, all foods sold must comply with relevant maximum residue limits, whether the foods have been genetically modified or not. Thus, even if herbicide or pesticide used changes because crops have been modified to tolerate these chemicals, they will not contain unsafe levels of residues. In some cases, level of these chemicals used on GM crops might be reduced.