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Genetically Engineered Food — The Unpredictable Hazards — Genetically Engineered Food The Unpredictable Hazards — Agribusiness is swamping us with genetically altered foods, with little regard for the impact on our health and the environment. he use of genetic engineering in agriculture and food production has impacts not only on the environment and biodiversity but also on human health. Therefore, thorough biosafety assessment requires not only evaluation of environmental impacts of genetically engineered organisms but also ssment of the risks that genetically engineered foods pose for the health of consumers. The hazards that may be introduced into foods through genetic engineering are three- fold: allergens, toxins, and reduced nutritional quality. This paper begins with a discus- sion of how genetic engineering may introduce these risks into foods, and then outlines the procedures for assessing whether or not a given genetically engineered food contains such hazards. In this discussion, foods, food ingredients and food additives produced through recombinant DNA technologies will be called "genetically engineered", "recom- binant" or "transgenic" foods, and the term "food" will be used to refer collectively to foods, food ingredients, food additives and nutritional supplements. Some of the health risks associated with genetically engineered foods can be anticipated on the basis of the characteristics of the unmodified organism from which the transgenic food-producing organism was generated, and from the source of the genes used in devel- oping the genetically engineered organism. For instance, if a gene derived from peanuts is introduced into a plant, food produced from the resulting genetically engineered plant might cause allergic reactions in people who are allergic to peanuts. In addition to these anticipatable risks, current recombinant DNA methods—and those likely to be developed in the foreseeable future—are all capable of introducing unintended changes in the function and structure of the food-producing organism. As a result, the genetically engineered food may have characteristics that were not intended by the genetic engineer. Some of these accidental changes may be harmful to the health and safety of the consumer. Before a genetically engineered food is placed on the market, it should be tested to ascertain that it is free of both anticipatable and unexpected allergens and toxins, and to ascertain whether or not it is altered in nutritional quality. The testing strategies presented below are designed to accomplish this objective. HOW GENETIC ENGINEERING CAN CREATE HAZARDOUS FOODS 1. Genetic engineering introduces into foods new proteins that can either directly or indirectly threaten health. Genetic engineering introduces new genes, new genetic information, into the cells of a food-producing organism. Since a gene is the blueprint for a protein, that new genetic information causes the organism to produce one or more new proteins. In turn, the food produced by that genetically engineered organism will contain those new proteins. Thus, genetic engineering introduces new ingredients, new constituents into foods. The new proteins that genetic engineering introduces into foods can come from virtual- ly any organism on Earth, and most of these new proteins will never have previously been present in significant amounts in human foods. Because people have never before eaten these proteins, the effects that they might have on health will not be known. Thus, the only way to be sure that these foods are safe is to test them thoroughly. What might be their possible harmful effects? These new proteins could, themselves, cause allergies or be toxic. Alternatively, they could alter the cellular metabolism of the food-producing organism in unintended and unanticipated ways, and, in turn, these alter- ations in metabolism could cause allergens or toxins to be produced in the food. Another possibility is that, as a result of these alterations in metabolism, the food-pro- ducing organism might fail to make some important vitamin or nutrient. Consequently, by John B. Fagan, Ph.D. ©1996 Chairman, Department of Chemistry Maharishi University of Management Fairfield, lowa 52557-1078, USA Phone: +1 (515) 472 1111 or 472 8342 Fax: +1 (515) 472 1167 or 472 5725 E-mail: jfagan@mum.edw NEXUS © 17 FEBRUARY - MARCH 1997