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Although one may say that GM food are beneficial to consumers in many other ways. however we should be aware of the danger of such technology.
GM crops can also cause allergies in consumers. A gene for an allergenic trait has been transferred unintentionally from the Brazil nut into genetically engineered soybeans while intending to improve soybean nutritional quality for animal feed use. Such allergies skyrocketed by 50% in the UK, coinciding with the introduction of GM soy imports from the U.S. GM foods may unintentionally introduce a new allergen and cause an allergic reaction in susceptible individuals.
Also GM food poses a potential hazard to human health as the bacteria in out guts could pick up antibiotic-resistance genes found in GM food. If this transfer happens, it could exacerbate the already worrisome spread of disease-causing bacteria that have proved able to withstand our antibiotics.
Furthermore until now, there are unknown effects of GM crops on human health. There is a growing concern that introducing foreign genes into food plants may have an unexpected and negative impact on human health. Although GM food has been claimed to be safe for human consumption, but we cannot deny the possibility that there may be side effects that science and current tests cannot predict. An experiments shows that rats' ability to digest was decreased after eating GM corn.
GM crops may also cause unintended harm to other organisms. Caterpillars of monarch butterflies responded adversely and died after consuming milkweed leaves heavily dusted with pollen from BT corn. This shows that there may be unforeseen effects of toxin on organisms that are not pests.
Learn more about this author, Celestine Lim.
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