Typical laboratory toxicity tests for a GM protein include tests for chemical analysis, heat stability, and what happens when doses some 1,000 times greater than a human would consume are fed to mice. The protein is put through a simulation of digestion to simulate whether it can cause allergies. The quicker the protein is digested, the more reassuring the result, since a key characteristic of many known allergens is that they resist digestion in the gut. Finally, the biotech companies have to prove to regulators that the protein doesn’t interact with the plant’s own proteins and alter the chemistry of the plant itself. This involves pinning down the entire chemical composition of the GM plant, and comparing it with that of a conventional one.

Did you know … ?
A single human cell is a hundredth of a millimetre in diameter and contains 2 metres of DNA

GM Food and Allergies

Nut allergy sufferers in the US have something to thank the federal testing system for. During the early stages of R&D for a new GM product, a gene from a Brazil nut was engineered into soya to make it more nutritious. During testing, scientists discovered that the protein brought nut allergy as an unwanted side effect. Testing stopped and the product was abandoned. This episode helped to convince regulators that the laboratory testing system, established by scientists to weed out potential problems, works. But others are not so sure.

The GM scientist’s view:
"There was a hypothetical avenue by which one of the Bt proteins might cause allergies and there was a big scare about it last year, but there was when all of the people who though they’d become allergic were analysed they had no antibodies in their system to this protein at all, and no body has ever been identified as having antibodies to any engineered protein as far as I’m aware."
Professor Jonathon Jones works at the John Innes Centre in Norwich. His work is on how to prevent crops from succumbing to disease.

The anti-GM protester’s view:
"BSE was caused by a tiny little change in the way meat is produced, and it led to a complete disaster, and so consumers have definitely got a right because GM could have all sorts of properties which could affect peoples’ digestion, peoples’ allergies, that sort of thing."
Jenny Samson is an active member of several environmental groups, organising protest campaigns against GM.

Did you know ... ?
Vegetarian cheese is made possible by the genetic manipulation of yeast.