Many of you will have heard/read about safety concerns regarding GM food. One of the biggest controversies in this sense is whether or not the presence of recombinant DNA (the new DNA formed when foreign DNA is inserted) is harmful to humans.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) says that there is absolutely no reason to fear recombinant DNA within food, as it is chemically no different to non-recombinant DNA (for the record, DNA has always been present in food, no matter if it is meat or vegetables, GM or non-GM). The fact that it is recombinant DNA is essentially meaningless.
Chances are the bit of DNA which has been inserted into the organism is from another organism that we eat anyway. Even DNA from bacteria or viruses that has been inserted into an organism to make a GM food pose no real risk in this sense – these bacteria and viruses are often naturally found on or in food we eat.
FSANZ says that the risk posed by recombinant DNA is equivalent to the risk posed by non-recombinant DNA.
As part of their strict food safety assessment process, FSANZ fully characterises the DNA that is going to be inserted into the organisms, as well as the recombinant DNA it produces. They can use this process to determine if there are any potential health risks from ingesting the recombinant DNA.
This means they can put a halt to any potentially harmful GM products very early on.
I will talk more about issues around the products of recombinant DNA in another post.
Here is the FSAZN fact sheet on the safety of ingesting recombinant DNA:
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