New technology: Issues relating to the use of genetically modified crops

With increasing population and decreasing area of land available for food p roduction the development and use of genetically modified (GM) crops is con sidered as an important tool to ensure global food security. The rigorous s afety evaluation, which can take up to 10 years by independent Regulatory A gencies prior to final approval of GM crops, is noted. The rapid uptake of GM technology is illustrated by the increase, between 1996/1999, from 2 to 40 million hectares and that while 72% is grown in the USA a further 15 cou ntries grew GM crops. The paper discusses a number of safety issues includi ng antibiotic resistance marker genes, potential allergenicity, substantial equivalence, consumption of transgenic protein and transgenic DNA and thei r detection in milk, meal and eggs. Far from increasing the risk of allerge nicity GM technology can offer the opportunity to reduce/eliminate protein allergens that occur naturally in foods such as rice, wheat and peanuts and that GM crops are compositionally (laboratory analysis) and nutritionally (animal feeding studies) equivalent to their conventional counterparts. The paper notes that while concern has been expressed about the possible accum ulation of transgenic protein and DNA in milk, meal and eggs, and the possi ble implications of this on animal and human health, the regulatory agencie s and the World Health Organisation concluded that there is no inherent ris k in consuming DNA, including that fi om GM crops as mammals have always co nsumed significant quantities of DNA from a wide variety of sources, includ ing plants, animals, bacteria, parasites and viruses. To date transgenic pr otein and DNA have not been found in milk, meat and eggs. The paper conclud es, by providing numerous examples of the potential benefits to the farmer, consumer and the environment in both developed and developing countries, w ith particular emphasis on the ability of GM technology to increase crop yi eld, improve food quality and to reduce the environmental impact of agricul ture by amongst other things the lower use of less toxic agrochemicals.