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1.
GM foods may cause new allergens in the food supply. GM food has been modified with ‘foreign’ genes, which are intended to give new attributes to the food. However, most of the genes being introduced into GM foods come from sources which have never been part of the human diet, and therefore there is no way of knowing whether or not the food products of these genes will cause allergenic reactions. A study by scientists at the University of Nebraska showed that soybeans genetically modified to contain brazil-nut proteins caused reactions in people with brazil-nut allergies. A person who knows he is allergic to brazil-nuts will avoid eating them, but he will not know to avoid eating GM Soya beans because he will not know they contain brazil-nut proteins. (See the website of the Washington based Union of Concerned Scientists, website: www.ucsusa.org.) Importing genes into food, particularly from non-food sources, is a gamble with respect to possible allergenic reactions in people. Allergenic reactions could be mild or severe, and may well occur gradually over time.
2.
GM foods increase the risk of antibiotic resistance. Overexposure to antibiotics (prescribed as medicine and used to promote growth in animals for meat production) has built up human resistance to them, making antibiotic medicines increasingly ineffective. Because the gene ‘construct’ used to genetically modify plants nearly always contains an antibiotic resistant gene, (see GM TECHNOLOGY AND GMO’S) the problem of antibiotic resistance could be aggravated by GM food. The antibiotic resistance genes in GM food could be transferred to human pathogens making them impervious to antibiotic medicine. (See www.ucsusa.org.)
3.
GM foods could contain toxins. Plants contain toxins which they use to defend themselves against predators. These toxins are controlled by the plant’s genes, which ‘switch them on’ when needed and ‘switch them off’ when not needed. When plants are genetically modified ‘foreign’ genes are transferred into the plant, which can disrupt the functioning of the plant’s natural genes. The genes introduced into a GM plant could increase the levels of toxins in the plant by activating genes that are ‘switched off’ or by boosting the performance of genes that are ‘switched on’. As Margaret Mellon, a Ph.D. in molecular biology and director of the agricultural and biotechnology program of the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington, DC says, “Plants have a lot of toxins in them; as scientists manipulate systems that they don’t understand, one of the unexpected effects could be turning on genes for toxins. There are rules that govern how genes come together and come apart in natural breeding. We are not obeying those rules.”
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