Debate: I am against the other side's help to the safety of genetically modified food.

Recently, The Independent published a report that genetically modified food was suspected to be harmful to health, exposing a secret report of Monsanto, a giant genetically modified food company. The report shows that mice fed with genetically modified food have organ variation and blood composition changes.

As a result, the problem of genetically modified food has been aroused again, and its safety has been widely concerned. Although it is still too early to draw conclusions, the potential uncertainty of genetically modified foods still exists. Many consumers are waiting to see if they will eat genetically modified food.

Many people don't know about genetically modified food.

When interviewed by some supermarkets, the reporter found that many edible oils are extracted from genetically modified soybeans, and some consumers did not notice that the oil they bought was genetically modified oil. A wang xing consumer told reporters: "I never pay attention to whether it is genetically modified oil when buying oil, and people around me don't care much about genetically modified food. Since it can be sold in supermarkets, safety should be recognized by the quality inspection department! "

The reporter found that older consumers said that they were not very concerned about whether it was genetically modified oil, but they were more sensitive to the price of the product. An old man surnamed Lin said that he usually buys oil without paying attention to whether it is genetically modified oil, as long as it is cheap. A salesman said doubtfully, "What is genetically modified? I can't see the difference between these oils. "

For ordinary people, genetically modified food is approaching our table. Genetically modified soybean, genetically modified corn, etc. It can be seen everywhere, especially edible oil. Statistics show that the salad oil currently sold in supermarkets is mostly processed from foreign genetically modified soybeans. As the mainstream blending oil, more than 90% of the ingredients are genetically modified salad oil. Statistics show that 62.8% people don't know that they have eaten genetically modified products.

Whether to eat or not is up to the citizens.

For a long time, the controversy about whether genetically modified food will harm human health has never stopped, but it has never been conclusive, and scientists can't clearly guarantee that genetically modified food is safe. Prior to this, many authoritative media have repeatedly advised the public to choose genetically modified foods carefully. On March 12, 2002, China Market published an article in the eleventh edition, entitled "Lack of technology, unpredictable consequences. Don't experiment with genetically modified foods in poor countries "to warn the public in China to choose genetically modified foods carefully.

At present, there are many questions about the safety of genetically modified foods in the world: 1, which produces toxins or increases the content of food toxins, causing kidney and blood diseases; 2, causing human allergies, causing unpredictable consequences; 3. Reduced nutrients, etc. Therefore, many countries in the world are cautious about genetically modified foods. For example, some EU countries prohibit genetically modified foods from entering the market, or prohibit genetically modified foods from being publicly sold in the market.

The reporter interviewed some consumers randomly on this issue, and the interviewees expressed their views and attitudes towards genetically modified food after understanding the relevant knowledge of genetically modified food. A consumer surnamed Pu said, "If you know that a food is genetically modified, you won't buy it. Because whether genetically modified food is harmful to human health has not been finalized, what if it is harmful in the end? Or is this injury accumulated over time? It is absolutely inappropriate to experiment with mice with genetically modified food safety. " Another young lady surnamed Wang said: "If you can't eat genetically modified products, don't eat them. Because there are non-GM foods, why should we eat GM foods? " A mother surnamed Ma said that she would try not to buy genetically modified food. Without knowing it, she will eat it herself, but she will never let the baby eat it.

As for genetically modified foods, a professor from China Agricultural University said that all genetically modified foods sold in the market have been tested by the relevant national quality inspection departments, but non-genetically modified foods are definitely safer and more secure. Whether to eat genetically modified foods, such as cooking oil, is up to the citizens themselves. If people are worried, they can eat other oils without genetically modified ingredients, such as peanut oil, olive oil and non-genetically modified rapeseed oil, which will be safer. When buying food, pay more attention to the relevant contents on the product packaging.

Abstract: With the continuous progress of biotechnology, the variety and quantity of genetically modified foods are also increasing, and the debate about the safety of genetically modified foods has attracted much attention. This paper summarizes the causes and focus of the debate on genetically modified food, and introduces the attitudes and policies of governments around the world on genetically modified food.

Keywords: genetically modified food; safe

1 Development of genetically modified organisms

By means of genetic engineering, the genes of some organisms are transferred to other species, and their genetic material is transformed to meet people's needs in traits, nutritional quality and consumption quality. This kind of food made of genetically modified organisms or raw materials is genetically modified food, also known as genetically modified food. Genetically modified foods include plant-derived foods, animal-derived foods and microbial-derived foods.

Since 1994 Calgene, a subsidiary of Monsanto, was approved for listing, the commercialization of genetically modified food is the first case. 2005 is the 10 year of commercialization of transgenic crops. This year, 400 million hectares of biotechnology crops were planted in 2 1 country. The United States, Argentina, Brazil, Canada and China are the main biotech crop growers in the world. China planted 3.3 million hectares of transgenic cotton, ranking fifth [1]. 1997, China approved the commercial production of the 1 th transgenic tomato, becoming the third country to put the transgenic tomato on the market. With the approval of 1999 in the State Council, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Finance jointly launched the "National Special Project on Research and Industrialization of Genetically Modified Plants", which was supported by 1 16. 26 genes with independent intellectual property rights were obtained, including 7 target genes, 8 transgenic crop varieties1,36 new strains, 20 domestic invention patents1and 9 foreign patents. China has become the main planting country of transgenic plants in the world.

Transgenic technology has great potential in improving economic benefits and human health. Using transgenic technology can improve the agronomic traits of crops, such as insect resistance, disease resistance, stress resistance and herbicide resistance. It can also improve the quality of crops, such as increasing the content of protein and vitamins and improving the nutritional structure; Some genetically modified crops are used as bioreactors, such as the production of biochemical drugs. At present, the most widely used transgenic herbicide-resistant crops are herbicide-resistant soybeans, corn, rape, cotton, etc. Followed by transgenic insect-resistant crops, such as insect-resistant cotton and insect-resistant corn. Transgenic crops with disease resistance and improved quality have also been widely used.

2 The causes and continuation of the debate on the safety of genetically modified foods

In August, 1998, Pusztai, England, rats were fed with potato transgenic with snowdrop lectin (GNA) gene. It was found that mice showed abnormal organ growth, weight loss and other symptoms, and their immune system was also destroyed. For humans, similar results will lead to a significant increase in cancer incidence and mortality. This experimental result has caused the world to question the safety of genetically modified food [2]; From 65438 to 0999, Losey and others of Cornell University reported that Papilio megacephala larvae were fed with milkweed mixed with Bt transgenic insect-resistant corn pollen, and larvae fed with normal pollen or without pollen were used as control group. After 4 days, the mortality rate of larvae fed with Bt pollen reached 44%. This has led to the controversy about whether transgenic plants are safe for the ecological environment. In 2000, the "Xinglian" transgenic corn produced by Aventiscropscience Company in the United States was allowed to be used as animal feed because it might cause skin rash, diarrhea or allergic reaction of respiratory system in some people. However, it was found that genetically modified corn was mixed into processed food, which caused the recycling tide of more than 300 corn-containing products around the world [4]. Since then, the U.S. government issued the draft management of genetically modified food on 200 1 1; In May 2005, The Independent reported that Monsanto's research showed that the kidneys of mice fed with genetically modified corn became smaller and the blood components changed [5]. Genetically modified soybean occupies an important position in China's domestic oil market, which has caused consumers in China to worry about the safety of eating genetically modified soybean oil.

The Royal Society of the United Kingdom organized a review of Dr. Pusztai's conclusion, and concluded in 1999 that there were six major defects in his experiment [6], such as the uncertainty of the chemical composition difference between transgenic and non-transgenic potatoes, the small number of experimental animals, unreasonable experimental design, improper statistical methods and inconsistent experimental results. As for the butterfly incident, there are also scientific conclusions that overturn the original report [7]. Any animal experimental observation on the safety of genetically modified food must strictly follow the experimental principles. For example, experimental animals must meet the standards and have a large enough population, and biostatistics methods must be strictly adopted to scientifically verify the safety data of genetically modified food.

However, the debate about the safety of genetically modified food has been ignited and intensified, which has attracted worldwide attention. Affected by these events, consumers' acceptance of genetically modified products has also changed, requiring informed choice of genetically modified foods.

3 The focus of the debate on the safety of genetically modified foods

The traditional breeding method is based on gene mutation and sexual hybridization, and the traditional hybridization is limited to the spontaneous nature, which has experienced gene recombination and exchange within or between related species for thousands of years. Using gene recombination technology, genes from any organism or even synthetic genes can be transferred into organisms in a short time, and the boundaries between biological species (classes) are completely broken. People are worried that new combinations and traits will produce some unpredictable results under the new genetic background.

3. 1 Have the key nutrients changed?

The purpose of inserting foreign genes is to change the specific nutritional components of the target organism and improve its nutritional value, such as "golden rice" rich in β-carotene and canola without erucic acid. But will this change develop in an unexpected direction, increasing the target product while reducing the content of other nutrients, or increasing the expression of a new nutrient while increasing the expression of some toxic substances? For another example, due to the different sources and random introduction sites of foreign genes, gene deletion, coding errors and other mutations are likely to occur, which makes the properties, quantity and location of the expressed protein products not meet expectations.

The difference of key nutritional components between genetically modified products and original food can be used as one of the safety evaluation indexes of genetically modified food. Key nutrients refer to major nutrients and micronutrients, including fat, protein, carbohydrates, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids and vitamins. The relevant personnel of Monsanto Company in the United States made a comparative study on the key nutritional components of transgenic soybeans and conventional control soybeans, and found no difference between them [8]. The contents of crude protein, crude fat, ash, calcium, magnesium, zinc and iron, as well as the types and contents of amino acids in the muscles of transgenic carp and common carp were determined in China. The results showed that the insertion of foreign genes had no effect on the nutrient composition and amino acid content [9]. Of course, this research is still in progress.

3.2 Safety and stability of foreign genes

The marker gene in genetically modified food is usually an antibiotic resistance gene, which is used for the initial selection of transgenic explants in genetic engineering operations. After people eat genetically modified plant food, most of the DNA in it has been degraded and inactivated in the gastrointestinal tract. A tiny part (

3.3 Allergy and Toxicology

Sensitization of genetically modified food is a prominent problem. Genetically modified foods contain new protein with new gene expression, some of which may be allergens, and some fragments of protein digested in gastrointestinal tract may also be sensitive. A typical example is that people who are allergic to Brazil nuts are also allergic to soybeans after transgenic Brazil nuts [12]. Therefore, people pay more and more attention to the allergenicity evaluation of genetically modified foods. At present, the focus of allergenicity evaluation of genetically modified foods is: (1) gene source; (2) The amino acid sequence homology of the newly introduced protein with known allergens; (3) Immune binding reaction between newly introduced protein and serum IgE of allergic individuals. At home and abroad, the research on the evaluation method of allergenicity of genetically modified foods is still in progress, and there is no authoritative evaluation method at present. Therefore, it is urgent to establish appropriate procedures and norms to evaluate the allergenicity of genetically modified foods in China.

Toxicology research is mainly done through animal experiments. At present, the commonly used experimental animals are rats, mice, quails, zebrafish, cows and chickens. The toxicity of genetically modified food was analyzed by micronucleus test, sperm aberration test, Ames test, acute toxicity test and feeding test. The main measurement indicators include body weight, food intake, food utilization rate, red blood cells and white blood cells, and the ratio of viscera to body (including liver to body ratio, kidney to body ratio, spleen to body ratio, etc.). ), and blood biochemical indicators [13]. The results of toxicological experiments of transgenic fish showed that feeding "whole fish" gene carp had no obvious effect on the growth, blood routine, blood biochemical components, histopathology, reproductive function and growth and development of larvae [14].

3.4 Safety Differences between Transgenic Varieties and Conventional Varieties

It is considered that there is no essential difference between genetic engineering breeding and traditional breeding in creating genetic variation or transforming plant metabolism, and there should be no essential difference in genetic safety [15]. The difference is only a matter of technology and method. It should be said that genetic engineering is more scientific, safer and more targeted.

4 Principles of safety assessment of genetically modified foods

Safety evaluation is a complex and meticulous comprehensive work. At present, many countries, such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), have recognized the principles of safety assessment as follows: the principle of substantial equivalence, the principle of individual cases and the principle of gradual progress. The so-called substantial equivalence means that if it is proved by testing that the food processed by genetically modified crops and the ingredients in the food currently on the market are the same, in principle, it is considered that there is no difference between them and further testing is not needed. If the individual components are different, they only need to be tested separately. "Substantial equivalence" proposed by OECD in 1993 is the most effective method to evaluate food safety [16]. "Substantial equivalence", as the safety evaluation principle of modern biotechnology food, has been recognized by FAO/ WHO. But Millstone and others [17] insist that the chemical similarity between genetically modified food and existing food is not enough to prove that it is safe for human beings. Other methods, such as toxicology and immunology, should be supplemented by more effective evaluation systems to provide more convincing data and conclusions. The EU believes that "substantial equivalence" itself is not a safety and nutritional evaluation, but a comparison between a new food and similar traditional food, which is considered to be useful, but not unique, for the safety evaluation of genetically modified food. The principle of case analysis is that different genetically modified crops or foods should be investigated one by one, even if the same foreign genes are transformed. The transformation of different genes from the same crop also needs to be checked one by one.

The principle of gradual improvement means that the current safety evaluation can only be carried out on the current equipment conditions and technical level. With the deepening of research and the improvement of technical level, the evaluation results need to be continuously improved to gradually improve the effectiveness and accuracy of the evaluation method.

5. Relevant government policies on genetically modified foods

200 1 1,13 Countries (regions) including China signed the United Nations Biosafety Protocol in Canada, clearly stipulating that consumers have the right to know about genetically modified foods. When genetically modified products are transferred across borders, importing countries can conduct safety evaluation and label management. However, due to the influence of many factors such as the development history, development level, economic benefits and public acceptance of biotechnology, countries have formed their own different attitudes and policies.

5. 1 Safety management mode of agricultural genetically modified organisms

The safety management model of agricultural genetically modified organisms includes product-based model and process-based model. The product-based model is represented by the United States, Canada and other countries. Its core is that management should be aimed at biotechnology products rather than biotechnology itself. The FDA released the draft management of genetically modified food in 200 1 and 1, and used the words "bioengineering" and "bioengineering" in the label instead of "transgenic", "non-transgenic" and "transgenic".

The process-based or technology-based model represented by the European Union holds that biotechnology itself is potentially dangerous, and all activities related to biotechnology should be evaluated for safety and strictly managed [18]. 1990, the EU promulgated the EU Council Order 90/220, which stipulated the approval procedures for genetically modified organisms. 1997 "new food regulations" stipulates that EU member states should mark the genetically modified products on the market, including all genetically modified foods or foods containing genetically modified ingredients. From April, 20001year, the EU must label any genetically modified raw materials with ingredients, additives or seasonings exceeding 1% in food.

5.2 Identification management of agricultural genetically modified products

It is a common practice in most countries and international organizations to implement labeling management for genetically modified products, which mainly protects consumers' right to know and choose. The identification management of agricultural genetically modified products includes compulsory (compulsory) identification and voluntary identification. As of June 5438+February, 2002, the countries with compulsory marking (compulsory) are EU 15 and Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, China, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Russia, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan Province Province of China, the United States, the Czech Republic, Israel, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Argentina, South Africa and Indonesia.

Countries that volunteer to mark are the United States, Canada, Russia, Argentina and so on. The United States, Canada, Australia and other countries with advanced biotechnology have relatively loose attitudes towards genetically modified products, and the public has a high degree of acceptance of genetically modified products, and their management is basically similar.

5.3 Attitudes of Major Countries towards Genetically Modified Foods

5.3. 1 The United States actively supports genetically modified foods, and its basic position is reflected in the Framework Document for the Management of Bioengineering Products issued by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy 1986. The important contents of this document framework are: (1) There is no essential difference between genetically modified crops or products and non-genetically modified crops or traditional products; (2) What should be managed is the product rather than the production process; (3) Management should be based on the final product and case analysis; (4) The existing laws provide sufficient guarantee for the safety of transgenic technology products [19]. Because the United States has adopted a relatively loose policy on the management of genetically modified foods, genetically modified crops and genetically modified foods in the United States have developed very rapidly and are in a monopoly position in the world.

5.3.2 EU The release and cultivation of genetically modified foods in the environment are basically prohibited. Although scientific investigations by WHO, FAO, OECD and EU have proved that all genetically modified foods on the market are safe [20,265,438+0]. However, the EU insists that science is limited, and no matter how strict the research methods are, there are always some uncertainties in the results. In order to protect consumers' health and environment to the greatest extent, the EU has adopted the precautionary principle as the theoretical basis for the supervision of genetically modified foods.

In July 2003, the main points of the new regulations of the European Parliament on genetically modified products were as follows: (1) All genetically modified products must be clearly marked "This product is genetically modified"; (2) Establish a new registration system, forcing operators who use genetically modified products to track the whole process of all genetically modified products from production to sales; (3) The newly established Food Safety Bureau of the European Union will be responsible for evaluating the safety of all newly introduced biotechnology products, and then make a decision on whether to allow these products to enter the market; (4) All EU member states are allowed to formulate their own laws and regulations to prevent the seeds of genetically modified crops farms from entering the farmland where ordinary crops are planted [22]. According to EU law, all foods with genetically modified content exceeding 0.5% must be marked with mandatory labels (the threshold set by other member States is 0.9%), and a traceability system is established. A series of transgenic management systems introduced by the European Union are beneficial to protect consumers' health and environment. On the other hand, they also set up hidden technical barriers, providing a basis for the implementation of trade protectionism.

5.3.3 The government of China, China attaches great importance to modern biotechnology, and supports and encourages the research on genetically modified organisms and genetically modified foods. So far, China is the only developing country that has developed its own transgenic crops and put them into production. As early as 1992, China's Ministry of Health stipulated the approval system for trial production and formal production of new resource foods. 1993 at the end of the former state science and technology commission, the safety management measures for genetic engineering divided genetic engineering into four safety levels according to the degree of potential danger. In June, 20001,the State Council promulgated the Regulations on the Safety Management of Agricultural Genetically Modified Organisms. In 2002, the Ministry of Agriculture promulgated a series of management measures and procedures on safety evaluation, import and labeling of agricultural genetically modified organisms. The Ministry of Health also promulgated the Regulations on Hygienic Management of Genetically Modified Foods.

China implements labeling management of agricultural genetically modified organisms, which was implemented in March 2002. 1 batch of agricultural genetically modified organisms listed in the labeling catalogue include: soybean seeds, soybeans, soybean flour, soybean meal, corn seeds, corn oil, corn flour, rapeseed, rapeseed meal, cottonseed, tomato seeds, fresh tomatoes, tomato sauce, etc. The sign management system gives consumers the right to know and choose.

However, China's biosafety laws and regulations are still not perfect, which can not meet the needs of all-round management of biosafety. With the rapid development of transgenic technology, more and more genetically modified foods appear on the market. China should further strengthen the construction of laws and regulations on the safety of genetically modified foods and properly solve the safety problems of genetically modified foods.