Is Gm Food Safe To Eat

呂琴

Traditional plant breeding involves crossing varieties of the same species in ways they could cross naturally.For example，disease-resistant varieties of wheat have been crossed with high-yield wheat to combine these properties.This type of natural gene exchange is safe and fairly predictable.

Genetic engineering（GE）involves exchanging genes between unrelated species that cannot naturally exchange genes with each other.GE can involve the exchange of genes between vastly different species――e.g.putting scorpion toxin genes into maize or fish antifreeze genes into tomatoes.It is possible that a scorpion toxin gene，even when it is in maize DNA，will still get the organism to produce scorpion toxin――but what other effects may it have in this alien environment？We are already seeing this problem――adding human growth hormone genes to pigs certainly makes them grow――but it also gives them arthritis and makes them cross-eyed，which was entirely unpredictable.

It will be obvious，for example，that the gene for human intelligence will not have the same effect if inserted into cabbage DNA as it had in human DNA――but what side-effect would it have？In other words，is GM food safe to eat？The answer is that nobody knows because long-term tests have not been carried out.

Companies wanting a GM product approved in the UK or USA are required to provide regulatory bodies with results of their own safety tests.Monsantos soya beans were apparently fed to fish for 10 weeks before being approved.There was no requirement for independent testing，for long-term testing，for testing on humans or testing for specific dangers to children or allergic people.

The current position of the UK Government is that “There is no evidence of long-term dangers from GM foods.” In the US，the American Food and Drug Administration is currently being prosecuted for covering up research that suggested possible risks from GM foods.

食用轉(zhuǎn)基因食品安全嗎

傳統(tǒng)的植物育種包括同一種類(lèi)變種的雜交，它們的雜交方式是自然的。例如，小麥的抗病變種與高產(chǎn)量的小麥雜交，結(jié)合形成一些特性。這一類(lèi)型的自然基因交換很安全，并且其結(jié)果也是可以預(yù)見(jiàn)的。

轉(zhuǎn)基因工程包括不相關(guān)物種之間的基因交換，它們之間的交換方式并不自然。轉(zhuǎn)基因工程指截然不同的物種交換基因，如將蝎毒素基因植入玉米中或?qū)Ⅳ~(yú)的抗凍基因植入西紅柿中。即使在玉米基因中，蝎毒素基因也有可能獲得生產(chǎn)蝎毒素的有機(jī)體，但是在這個(gè)陌生的環(huán)境下，它還會(huì)產(chǎn)生什么影響呢？我們已經(jīng)遇見(jiàn)了這個(gè)問(wèn)題：將人類(lèi)生長(zhǎng)激素注入豬的體內(nèi)，它能促進(jìn)豬的成長(zhǎng)，但同時(shí)這一激素也讓豬患上了關(guān)節(jié)炎和斜視疾病，這種情況是完全是沒(méi)有預(yù)料到的。

打個(gè)比方，將本應(yīng)在人體基因內(nèi)的人類(lèi)智力基因植入白菜的基因內(nèi)，顯而易見(jiàn)，效果是不一樣的，但是這么做有什么副作用呢？換言之，食用轉(zhuǎn)基因食品安全嗎？沒(méi)有人知道這個(gè)答案，因?yàn)槿藗冞€沒(méi)有進(jìn)行長(zhǎng)期的測(cè)試。

在英國(guó)或者美國(guó)，公司若想一種轉(zhuǎn)基因食品獲得批準(zhǔn)，那么它們必須出具監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu)對(duì)其產(chǎn)品自身安全檢測(cè)做出的結(jié)果證明。孟山都公司的大豆在獲得批準(zhǔn)前，已經(jīng)用其喂魚(yú)十個(gè)星期了。沒(méi)有要求規(guī)定需要進(jìn)行獨(dú)立測(cè)試、長(zhǎng)期測(cè)試和人體測(cè)試，或針對(duì)兒童或過(guò)敏群眾的特定危險(xiǎn)進(jìn)行的測(cè)試。