Can genetically modified plants or the food products made from them cause health problems?
Transgenic crops are extensively characterized and controlled before they are launched into the market. The risk of health problems (toxicity or allergenicity) has been studied by the relevant scientific and authority organs (like FAO, WHO, EFSA, and others). They conclude that the potential risk of food prepared from approved GMOs is of the same or lower level as the risk of conventional food. Any food may cause allergy. However, the most common allergy-inducing groups, the allergens present in peanuts, soybeans, shellfish, etc., are easy to identify and well characterized. The immune reaction they induce in susceptible organisms has also been extensively studied. The probability that such allergens will be introduced by genetic modification is very low and is tested systematically. The composition of the new proteins inserted in a transgenic crop is analysed and compared with known allergens. The digestibility of the transgenic plants and of derived products is assessed and their all
