Genetically modified foods raise many concerns among people all over the world. European environmental organizations and public interest groups protested against GM foods for months. Recent controversial studies about the effects of genetically-modified corn pollen on monarch butterfly caterpillars brought the issue of genetic engineering to the U.S. In response, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration held three open meetings in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Oakland, in order to establish a new regulatory procedure for government approval of GM foods.
Last year a laboratory study showed that pollen from genetically modified corn caused high mortality rates in monarch butterfly caterpillars.
Some of the genes in GM technology are taken from a food that causes allergies in some people. Inserting that gene into another organism could cause the host organism to express that allergen as a trait. Several GM foods are modified using bacteria and viruses which can create an outbreak of new diseases.
A recent article published in Lancet examined the effects of GM potatoes on the digestive tract in rats. The study discovered appreciable differences in the intestines of rats fed GM potatoes and rats fed unmodified potatoes. The gene introduced into the potatoes was a snowdrop flower lectin, which is known to be toxic to mammals.
Genetically Modified foods create a controversy and concerns among people from all over the world. When it come to food, most people want to make sure it won't harm human health and the environment.
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