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At least 289 records · Page 16Linked to original sources
PubMed2002

[Can gene technology in agriculture prevent hunger in the world?].

The world population grows rapidly: the number of mouths to feed increases. Is an agriculture without gene technology able to produce sufficiently in order to prevent hunger? Research indicates that hunger is not the result of short comings in agricultural outputs. It is however the result of poverty. This problem will not be solved by gene technology based agricultural production. This article explains the basic principles of mainstream and organic farming. Literature shows that the production potentials of both kinds of farming are, by far most, not yet exhausted. Gene technology is therefore unnecessary.

Agriculture↗
PubMed2003

Exploitation of molecular profiling techniques for GM food safety assessment.

Several strategies have been developed to identify unintended alterations in the composition of genetically modified (GM) food crops that may occur as a result of the genetic modification process. These include comparative chemical analysis of single compounds in GM food crops and their conventional non-GM counterparts, and profiling methods such as DNA/RNA microarray technologies, proteomics and metabolite profiling. The potential of profiling methods is obvious, but further exploration of specificity, sensitivity and validation is needed. Moreover, the successful application of profiling techniques to the safety evaluation of GM foods will require linked databases to be built that contain information on variations in profiles associated with differences in developmental stages and environmental conditions.

Consumer Product Safety↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Hygienic characteristics of foodstuffs containing genetically modified components].

The paper analyzes the results of the investigations of raw foods, foodstuffs for genetically modified components, conducted by the state sanitary and epidemiological service of the Russian Federation during its current sanitary inspection. The presented materials cover 2003-2004. The findings suggest that there is a great deal of foods containing genetically modified sources on the market and show the priority groups of foodstuffs and the distribution of these foods on the territory of the Russian Federation.

Food↗
PubMed2003

Food biotechnology: is this good or bad? Implications to allergic diseases.

BACKGROUND: Food biotechnology represents advancement in the traditional interspecies and intergeneric breeding methods for improving food supplies worldwide. With respect to safety, foods developed through biotechnology techniques represent one of the most extensively reviewed agricultural advancements in history. OBJECTIVE: To review the relevant issues with respect to foods from genetically modified crops and allergenicity. DATA SOURCES: To impart this information, the author will rely upon his experiences with investigations into food allergy and food allergens, participation in various workshops designed to determine allergenicity of novel proteins introduced into the diet, web sites, issue papers, and articles relevant to the topic. RESULTS: Given that there are no validated methods or models to determine potential allergenicity of novel proteins, criteria have been established based upon characteristics of known food allergens. The combination of genetic and bioinformatics information available from known food allergens applied to foods developed from genetically modified crops to avoid the inadvertent introduction of allergens into foods should pose no significant allergenic concern to individuals with a genetic predisposition to food allergy. Education and sound scientific evaluation provided to the consumer should alleviate any fear of emotionalism as implied by "Frankenfoods." CONCLUSIONS: The estimation that more than two trillion transgenic plants have been grown in 1999 and 2000 alone, with no overt documented adverse food reactions being reported, indicates that genetic modification through biotechnology will not impose immediate significant risks as food allergen sources beyond that of our daily dietary intake of foods from crop plants.

Allergens↗
PubMed2003

[GMOs in food: risk assessment, scientific management and regulatory aspects].

Genetic transformation constitutes a new tool for improvement of microorganisms, animals and plants used in food. We present foreseeable risks, as well as management measures to avoid unsuspected risks of GMOs. Few risks are specific to GMOs. Present elements of French and European regulations concerning placing on the market and follow up GMOs and other novel foods are described.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Genetically modified organisms: European and Italian legislation to protect citizens' health].

UNLABELLED: The development of GM foods and organisms has concentrated everyone's attention on the importance of food safety and on protecting citizens' health, and inevitably influenced healthcare policies regarding food safety. Personal ethical beliefs regarding food and in particular, the consumption of foods derived from biotechnology should be taken into account when deciding healthcare policy. AIM: The aim of this study was to analyse whether European, Italian and Regional legislation meets basic human rights regarding health and the right to choose, based on the precautionary principle. METHODS: European and Italian laws regarding the production and marketing of GM foods were analysed and compared to food safety legislation, in order to evaluate how and to what degree existing legislation protects consumers' right to choose. Results show that existing legislation protects consumers from possible foodborne diseases, but the right to informed consent and to free choice is not warranted. Existing laws do not attach enough importance to consumers' right to information; arbitrary threshold levels set for labeling and clauses concerning technical causes allow food businesses to avoid labeling and do not give consumers the possibility of making an informed choice.

Community Participation↗
PubMed1999

[New alternatives in the prevention of iron deficiency. Use of genetic engineering in food modification].

This article reviews the possible applications of new food biotechnology techniques to introduce some compounds into plants or animals. The potential for these plant modification methods has ample applications ranging from improvements in food production and development for human consumption, production of antibodies or therapeutic proteins, inclusion of nutrients to improve nutritional value of the food to production of vaccines. It must be clear though that currently the scope and consequences of such modifications are not completely clear. There is some concern about potential secondary effects and the hypothesis of the appearance of new viruses due to recombinant genetical transformations that have not been totally rejected. However the tendency is towards considering the process as safe. Finally some evidence is presented about the possibility of introducing the capacity to synthesize vitamin A in vegetables or produce rice with high content of iron as real alternatives to fight some of the nutritional deficiencies most common worldwide.

Animal Population Groups↗
PubMed2002

Clinical risk assessment of GM foods.

The main concerns about adverse effects of genetically modified (GM) foods on health are the transfer of antibiotic resistance, toxicity and allergenicity. There are two issues from an allergic standpoint. First, the transfer of a known allergen may occur from a crop into a non-allergenic target crop. The second scenario is the creation of a neo-allergen where de novo sensitisation occurs in the population. The first scenario occurred in 1996 when the 2S albumen protein from Brazil nut was transferred into soy bean (N. Engl. J. Med. 334 (1996) 688). 2S albumen was found to be a major Brazil nut allergen and the newly expressed protein in transgenic soy retained its allergenicity. Patients allergic to Brazil nuts and not to soy bean now showed an IgE mediated response towards GM soy bean. We argue that it is possible to prevent such occurrences by doing IgE-binding studies and taking into account physico-chemical characteristics of proteins and referring to known allergen databases. The second possible scenario of de novo sensitisation does not easily lend itself to risk assessment. We compare GM technology to traditional plant breeding and food processing methods. There is no evidence that the technology used for the production of GM foods poses an allergic threat per se compared to other methodologies widely accepted in the food industry. We need to proceed cautiously in the future, assessing individual GM foods on the basis of their individual merits and risks prior to introducing them into the market.

Allergens↗
PubMed2005

Development of a peptide nucleic acid polymerase chain reaction clamping assay for semiquantitative evaluation of genetically modified organism content in food.

In the present study a peptide nucleic acid (PNA)-mediated polymerase chain reaction (PCR) clamping method was developed and applied to the detection of genetically modified organisms (GMO), to test PCR products for band identity and to obtain a semiquantitative evaluation of GMO content. The minimal concentration of PNA necessary to block the PCR was determined by comparing PCRs containing a constant amount of DNA in the presence of increasing concentration of target-specific PNA. The lowest PNA concentration at which specific inhibition took place, by the inhibition of primer extension and/or steric hindrance, was the most efficient condition. Optimization of PCR clamping by PNA was observed by testing five different PNAs with a minimum of 13 bp to a maximum of 15 bp, designed on the target sequence of Roundup Ready soybean. The results obtained on the DNA extracted from Roundup Ready soybean standard flour were verified also on DNA extracted from standard flours of maize GA21, Bt176, Bt11, and MON810. A correlation between the PNA concentration necessary for inducing PCR clamping and the percentage of the GMO target sequence in the sample was found.

DNA Primers↗
PubMed2002

Genetically modified maize and soybean on the Egyptian food market.

The results of a survey study on food samples produced from genetically modified soybean and maize collected from the Egyptian market are presented. Forty samples of soybean and 40 samples of maize products have been gathered randomly from markets in Cairo and Giza. The genetic modification was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using official detection methods according to section 35 of the German Foodstuffs Act. Samples were investigated for the presence of material derived from the following genetically modified organisms (GMOs) all of which are approved for food use in Europe: Roundup Ready soybean (RRS) and maize lines Bt176, Bt11, T25 and MON810. In addition, samples were examined in qualitative and quantitative analysis for the presence of material derived from the transgenic maize line StarLink (Aventis) which was approved for animal feed use exclusively in the US. Twenty % of 40 investigated soy samples contained Roundup Ready soybean; 15% of 40 maize samples tested positive for Bt176 and 12.5% positive for Bt11 maize. Furthermore, the presence of StarLink maize could clearly be demonstrated in four samples mixed with Bt176 and Bt11. The percentage of StarLink was less than 1% in quantitative analysis. The maize lines T25 and MON810 were not detected.

DNA, Plant↗
PubMed1993

Food safety and inspection service update on food safety of animals derived from biotechnology experiments.

Recent progress in the field of biotechnology and the production of transgenic livestock has raised a question regarding the need for the regulation of these animals. There is also the need to regulate nontransgenic animals resulting from transgenic animal research. It is anticipated that several governmental agencies will be involved in regulatory issues pertaining to these animals. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) will ultimately be responsible for ensuring that transgenic animals intended for human consumption are wholesome, unadulterated, and properly labeled. The FSIS has implemented a program for the regulation of slaughtering nontransgenic animals resulting from transgenic animal experiments. However, the FSIS has not yet approved any transgenic livestock for slaughter. Scientists from the FSIS, in conjunction with other government agencies, are currently developing guidelines for the slaughter of transgenic animals.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Real-time PCR: what relevance to plant studies?

The appearance of genetically modified organisms on the food market a few years ago, and the demand for more precise and reliable techniques to detect foreign (transgenic or pathogenic) DNA in edible plants, have been the driving force for the introduction of real-time PCR techniques in plant research. This was followed by numerous fundamental research applications aiming to study the expression profiles of endogenous genes and multigene families. Since then, the interest in this technique in the plant scientist community has increased exponentially. This review describes the technical features of quantitative real-time PCR that are especially relevant to plant research, and summarizes its present and future applications.

DNA, Plant↗
PubMed2001

Use of cloned DNA fragments as reference materials for event specific quantification of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

For the quantification of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in foods and feeds, real-time PCR is currently the most widely applied technique. To obtain a % of GMO, a GMO-specific target sequence is quantified relatively to a species-specific sequence. The correctness and reliability of the obtained quantitative results fully depend on the reference materials used as standards for setting up external calibration curves. We introduced a completely new type of standards for quantification of GMOs, based on cloned plasmid DNA solutions with well-known amounts of the sequences of interest, expressed as copy numbers. Moreover, the junction sequence between inserted DNA and plant DNA was used as 'unique identifier'. In this study, the model was applied for Roundup Ready soybean.

Calibration↗