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Monday, June 11, 2007

title:{Introduction to Genetically modified food}

Genetically Modified (GM) foods are produced from genetically modified organisms(GMO) which have had their genome altered through genetic engineering techniques. The general principle of producing a GMO is to insert DNA that has been taken from another organism and modified in the laboratory into an organism's genome to produce both new and useful traits or phenotypes. Typically this is done using DNA from certain types of bacteria. GM Foods have been available since the 1990s, with the principal ones being derived from plants; soybean, corn, canola and cotton seed oil.

The first commercially grown genetically modified food crop was the Flavr Savr tomato which was made more resistant to rotting by Californian company Calgene. Calgene was allowed to release it into the market in 1994 without any special labeling, where it was welcomed by consumers who purchased the fruit at two to five times the price of standard tomatoes. However, production problems and competition from a conventionally bred, longer shelf-life variety prevented the product from becoming profitable.

A variant of the Flavr Savr was used by Zeneca to produce tomato paste which was sold in Europe during the summer of 1996. Its labeling and pricing were designed as a marketing experiment which proved that, at the time, European consumers would accept genetically engineered foods. This attitude would be drastically changed after outbreaks of Mad Cow Disease weakened consumer trust in government regulators, and protesters rallied against the introduction of Monsanto's "Roundup-Ready" soybeans. The next GM crops included insect-protected cotton and herbicide-tolerant soybeans both of which were commercially released in 1996. These crops have been widely adopted in the United States. They have also been extensively planted in several other countries (Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, India, and China) where agriculture is a major part of the total economy. Other GM crops include insect-protected maize and herbicide-tolerant maize, cotton, and rapeseed varieties.

In the USA regulation of a genetically modified food is determined by the objective characteristics of the food and the intended use of the food, irrespective of the way it was developed. FDA policy states that a formal pre-market review by the FDA is to be taken when the objective characteristics of any substance added to the food raises safety issues.

Prior to marketing a new GM food product, manufacturers are required to submit documentation to the FDA to demonstrate its safety and then await approval before selling it to consumers. The context for assessing safety of novel foods is the fact that existing foods often contain toxic components but are still able to be consumed safely. For instance, potatoes and tomatoes can contain toxic levels of solanine and alpha-tomatine alkaloids respectively, and this situation is recognised in the concept of "Substantial Equivalence" that was developed by the OECD in 1993 as a criterion for identifying whether a novel food is at least as safe as the equivalent existing food. The US FDA takes a safety assessment approach that is consistent with this OECD concept in their regulation of novel foods (including those made by recombinant DNA methods). This policy is outlined in an FDA statement. Critics of GM food believe this regulatory model fails to sufficiently protect consumers and claim that the FDA is subject to pressure and influence by industry. One concern voiced is that a novel crop may have unintended changes created during the insertion of new genetic material.

On the other hand, plant scientists, backed by results of modern comprehensive profiling of crop composition, point out that crops modified using GM techniques are less likely to have unintended changes than are conventionally bred crops.

7:43 PM;