Genetically Modified Food and Its Consequences on Human Health

and Nutrition

Ziaul Hasan Rana

CONTENT

o Introductiono Rationaleo Objectiveo Methods & Materialso Findings & Discussiono Conclusiono Recommendationo References & Bibliography

INTRODUCTION

Genetic engineering is the process that uses the techniques of molecular cloning and

transformation to alter the

structure and Characteristics of genes

Genetic engineering is about scientists altering the 'recipes' for making

life 

How does it work?

• Taking a desired genetic trait out of a donor organism and putting it into a food in order for that food to show the desired trait.

What is Genetic Engineering used for?

Scientists uses it to knock out certain genes from an organism to observe the effects caused by those genes.

Manipulate the genes of other organisms in order

to produce beneficial products for

humans.

Genetically Modified Food

• A food that has been genetically enhanced through molecular biology.

• Some claim that the use of GM technology is important to help farmers to increase food production to avoid existing poverty, hunger and malnutrition. While new technology must be tested before it is commercially released, we should be mindful of the risks of not releasing it.

• GM crops would allow farmers to use fewer pesticides, therefore helping the environment, reducing production costs and making the crops less labor intensive. This would, in turn, reduce the cost for consumers.

• The concept of enhancing the nutritional value of food, by genetically modifying crops, is a controversial and multi-faceted topic.

• Nearly 40% of the world's food crop is lost every year to insects, fungal diseases and spoilage that biotechnology helps prevent.

• Scientists also say GM crops are needed to meet the increasing food demand, especially in the developing world.

There are significant differences between the types of GM foods that are being introduced into developed and developing countries.

• In developed countries, GM foods have been created to benefit industrialized countries and to enhance the commercial appeal of particular produce.

• In developing countries, however, GM food would be nutritionally enhanced and would be used to ensure the population was receiving adequate nutrients, rather than being aimed at increasing yields.

RATIONALE•The world population has topped 6 billion people and is predicted to double in the next 50 years. Ensuring an adequate food supply for this booming population is going to be` a major challenge in the years to come. GM foods promise to meet this need in a number of ways.

• WHO has been addressing a wide range of issues in the field of biotechnology and human health, including safety evaluation of vaccines produced using biotechnology, human cloning and gene therapy.

• Micronutrient malnutrition has been acknowledged as the root cause of many health problems in developing countries. Around the world, two billion people do not receive enough essential vitamins and minerals and are considered malnourished. GM foods would be a possible solution to this widespread problem through supplementing available food crops, grains with their lacking micronutrient contents.

OBJECTIVE

The expansion of Genetically Modified Food and its domain in human life cycle progression.

In what extant GM foods promise to ensure an adequate food supply for this booming population is going to be a major challenge in the years to come.

Affiliation of Nutrition with Genetically Modified Food and thus explore positive contribution in combating malnutrition.

METHODS & MATERIALS

• Reviewing of various published journals, articles

• Review papers• Desk reports• Google search engine

FINDINGS&

DISCUSSION

Procedure of Genetic Modification

Developing a problem

Identifying a gene that produces a genetic trait of interest to solve this problem

 

Finding a donor organism

 

Separating the gene from the rest of the genetic material of the donor

 

Use gene gun or electricity to break through the cell wall and inject this gene into a food in

order for it to show that trait

Some Revolutionary Periods

1960-1970 Isolation of restriction enzymes and their use to analyse DNA structure.

1981-1982 First transgenic animals (mice) produced.

1983-1985 First transgenic plants produced.

1990-1992 First transgenic cereal plants (maize and wheat)

1992-1993 Regulations for deliberate release of genetically engineered organisms.

1994 Genetically engineered tomato marketed in USA.

EXAMPLES OF GM FOODS

• Corn• Rice• Tomatoes• Rapeseed• Honey• Cotton• Soybean• Sugar Cane• Canola• Potatoes• Cattle• Papaya• Squash

First Commercially Genetically Modified Food

• A tomato implanted with a gene from E. coli.

• A tomato that will not soften while ripening on the vine.

• The transgenic tomato would allow tomatoes to be shipped safely, keep their color, and have their natural flavors.

• Increased shelf life.

Flvr Savr

Some Examples of Utilization

• Bt corn – US, 1996

• Roundup Ready Soybeans – US, 1996

• Flavr Savr tomatoes – US, 1994

• “Golden Rice” – Switzerland, 1999

Countries mostly involved GM Foods application

US Revenues From Major GM Crops

ADVANTAGES• Enhance desired traits • Pest resistance• Improve nutritional content• Less time than controlled breeding• Improves accuracy• Herbicide tolerance• Cold tolerance• Medical advantages e.g. edible vaccines• Virtual end of world hunger e.g. no malnutrition• Cheaper or faster to grow & don’t have to be rich in

plant• Endless possibilities & anything alive can be

genetically modified • Reduce production cost to reduced chemical and

mechanical needs in planting, maintenance and harvest.

“Golden Rice”

The so-called “Golden Rice” is a genetically modified crop that was developed by Swiss and German scientists in 1999. This breed of rice was engineered to produce higher levels of beta-carotene, the precursor of Vitamin A in the human body. Increased levels of this substance give the rice its characteristic “golden” color. Millions of people around the world suffer from vitamin A deficiency (VAD), with the majority living in developing countries. Advanced VAD can lead to blindness. Pregnant women and children are especially vulnerable. VAD is responsible for blindness in about 350,000 children and over a million deaths each year. 

• Scientists at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) and Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) are conducting glasshouse and field trials of genetically modified (GM) varieties of eggplants, potatoes and vitamin-A enriched Golden Rice developed in collaboration with foreign universities and research institutes.

Genetically Modified Fish

e.g. Salmon, Tilapia, Zebrafish Cassava

Rich in calories but is lacking in nutrients, such as vitamin A, iron, and protein (Nigeria and Kenya).

GM Banana

With improved resistance to a devastating fungal disease.

Soyabeans

With higher protein content are already being discerned.

Sweet Potato

Vitamin A-rich orange-fleshed sweet potatoes. (Mozambique and Uganda).

• Pharmaceuticals:

Researchers are working to develop edible vaccines in tomatoes and potatoes.

These vaccines will be much easier to ship, store and administer than traditional injectable vaccines.

• Phytoremediation:

Plants such as poplar trees have been genetically engineered to clean up heavy metal pollution from contaminated soil.

DISADVATAGES• Human health risk so Unfamiliar foreign proteins

e.g. allergic reactions • Genes resistant to antibiotics e.g. dangerous

disease transmittable to humans • Some carcinogenic properties causing cancer

(long term effects)• Toxic compound (glyphosphate in Roundup)

harming development in children and adult• The golden rice with more beta-carotene has too

much of a pigment called xanthophylls, and the rice with less glutelin has more of the protein proclaim, which can be an allergen.

• Ethical concern (Religious) • Money cost approbation • Antibiotic resistant• Resistant weed

IGF-1 – Insulin-like Growth Hormone 1:

synthetic rBGH into cows > IGF-1 > limits certain physiologic activities > IGF-1 transfer to humans through commercial milk.

Antibiotics in Milk:

effect on human intestinal probiotics after consumption of such over-medicated milk.

Incidents already occurring :• 1989 incident killed dozens with infected food

supplement L- tryptophan. • 2006, exported contaminated rice genes.

GM Restricted Countries

• Africa: Algeria, Egypt

• Asia: Sri Lanka, Thailand, Japan, Philippine

• Europe: Norway, UK, Spain, Italy, France

• Middle East: Saudi Arabia

• Pacific: Fiji, Australia, New Zealand

PUBLIC CONCERN ABOUT GM FOOD

CONCLUSION

• Any new technology has its set of advantages and disadvantages. However you cannot condemn a beneficial technology because of the possible misuse. The simple solution is to use the technology with great caution.

• They are a topic of much deliberation and tension; very prevalent in some parts of the world and banned in others

• Ultimately, GMO’s are still a relatively premature technology and in the developmental process. Only time will reveal their ultimate effect on humans.

RECOMMANDATIONS

• Nutritionist to educate their patients, the medical community, and the public to avoid GM foods when possible and provide educational materials concerning GM foods and health risk.

• Our members, the medical community, and the independent scientific community to gather case studies potentially related to GM food consumption and health effects, begin epidemiological research to investigate the role of GM foods on human health, and conduct safe methods of determining the effect of GM foods on human health.

• For a moratorium on GM food, implementation of immediate long term independent safety testing, labeling of GM foods, which is necessary for the health and safety of consumers.

REFERENCES & BIBLIOGRAPHY • Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering Reviews. Nov 2004. 21.• Ewen S, Pustzai A. Effects of diets containing genetically modified potatoes expressing Galanthus

nivalis lectin on rat small intestine. Lancet. 354:1353-1354.

 • Finamore A, Roselli M, Britti S, et al. Intestinal and peripheral immune response to MON 810 maize

ingestion in weaning and old mice. J Agric. Food Chem. 2008; 56(23):11533-11539.

  • Genetically Modified Foods Position Paper AAEM

 • Gurain-Sherman,D. 2009. Failure to yield: evaluating the performance of genetically engineered crops.

Cambridge (MA): Union of Concerned Scientists.

 • Hill, AB. The environment and disease: association or causation? Proceeding of the Royal Society of

Medicine 1965; 58:295-300.

  • Kroghsbo S, Madsen C, Poulsen M, et al. Immunotoxicological studies of genetically modified rice

expression PHA-E lectin or Bt toxin in Wistar rats. Toxicology. 2008; 245:24-34.

 • Lofstedt R. The precautionary principle: risk, regulation and politics. Merton College, Oxford. 2002.

 • Malatesta M, Boraldi F, Annovi G, et al. A long-term study on female mice fed on a genetically modified

soybean: effects on liver ageing. Histochem Cell Biol. 2008; 130:967-977.

 

 • Society of Toxicology. The safety of genetically modified foods produced through biotechnology.

Toxicol. Sci. 2003; 71:2-8.

 

 • World Health Organization. (Internet)(2002). Foods derived from modern technology: 20 questions on

genetically modified foods.