Title: Human Health Concerns Related to the Consumption of Foods from Genetically Modified Crops
Abstract: Chapter 12 Human Health Concerns Related to the Consumption of Foods from Genetically Modified Crops Javier Magaña-Gómez, Javier Magaña-GómezSearch for more papers by this authorAna Maria Calderón de la Barca, Ana Maria Calderón de la BarcaSearch for more papers by this author Javier Magaña-Gómez, Javier Magaña-GómezSearch for more papers by this authorAna Maria Calderón de la Barca, Ana Maria Calderón de la BarcaSearch for more papers by this author Book Editor(s):Moshe Coll, Moshe Coll Department of Entomology, The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, IsraelSearch for more papers by this authorEric Wajnberg, Eric Wajnberg INRA, Sophia Antipolis, FranceSearch for more papers by this author First published: 25 August 2017 https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119255574.ch12Citations: 1 AboutPDFPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShareShare a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Summary Food products from genetically modified (GM) crops for human consumption, referred to as 'GM foods' in this chapter, have been available on the market since 1994. A few years after their introduction, controversy and negative reactions arose because of their potentially harmful environmental effects and the health risks associated with their intake. In spite of ongoing concerns, the growing of GM crops has increased more than 100-fold during the last 20 years. Nowadays, one of the most controversial aspects of GM foods consumption is still the risk to human health. The first complaint is that genes are inserted randomly into the crop genome that in turn may modify non-target gene sequences or cause genetic mutations during the transformation process. Therefore, the insertion site and copies of the new DNA sequence should be analysed before the approval of the product for human consumption. This raises the possibility of new conjugated proteins or peptides with unknown biological effects on human health. Another critical point to consider is the presence of proteins without a natural history of consumption. Recently, the potential carcinogenicity of herbicides used in GM crop land has been used to argue for the lack of safety of GM foods. The majority of results show that GM foods have no adverse effects on model animals. Only a few studies have detected serious risks attributable to some GM foods, principally at the microscopic and molecular levels. In this respect, assessment of the health risk associated with GM foods has not been standardized and, as a result, a wide variety of protocols are being used. In the near future, it will be possible to study the effects of specific nutrients, foods or whole diets on the expression of thousands of genes at the same time, as well as changes in metabolic pathways or the use of specific metabolites as biomarkers for human intake or animal models. This 'omics' approach will be an alternative for characterizing the health risks of any GM food. This chapter reviews the current published information on nutrition and health concerns associated with the consumption of GM foods, presents the pros and cons for GM food consumption, and discusses some future perspectives on the risk assessment based on current science and technology developments. Citing Literature Environmental Pest Management: Challenges for Agronomists, Ecologists, Economists and Policymakers RelatedInformation
Publication Year: 2017
Publication Date: 2017-08-25
Language: en
Type: other
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 1
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