Genetically modified foods

The use of green technology on food production is the cause of significant controversy that has been fuelled by the activities of various pressure groups and by the nature of some media reporting.

Plants and animals can be genetically modified in a variety of ways, each requiring some levels of human intervention.

Traditional methods include selection and cross breeding, while more contemporary techniques include embryo rescue, cell fusion, soma-clonal variation, mutation breeding, and cells election.

The genetically modified technology has been used to improve agricultural performance. The in-vitro manipulation of DNA is common to all applications of genetically modified technology. For each target material, ether is a need to use a specific technology for DNA delivery and to ensure its subsequent maintenance.

The possibility to alter the DNA of an organism is used to make plants adopt new traits, such increased agricultural productivity, increased resistance to disease and pests, or improved quality and nutritional and food processing characteristics, which can contribute directly to enhancing human health and development.

There are many concerns regarding genetically modified foods.  The true long term effects of genetically modified foods in human health and the environment are unknown.

However, all foods, including those from genetically modified plants, pose the same types of inherent risks to human health: they can cause allergic or toxic reactions or they can block the absorption of nutrients.

For consumers, health concerns include potential food allergies as well as gene transfer, whereby genes from GM food could, in theory be transferred into the human body.
Genetically modified foods