plant or animal is going to have the same effects if inserted into a totally unrelated species. To consumers, most genetically engineered foods are essentially foods with added substances, usually proteins. This is because genes are “translated” into proteins by cells. Therefore, when a genetic engineer adds, say, a bacterial gene to a tomato, he or she is essentially adding a bacterial protein to that tomato. In most cases these added proteins would likely prove safe for human consumption. Nevertheless, just as with conventional food additives, substances added to foods via genetic engineering may in some instances prove hazardous. Unfortunately, food allergies are poorly understood, and in many cases scientists will not be able to test potential allergenicity of genetically engineered foods. Even if there was some testing, the long term affects to humans, animals, and the environment from these modified genes “escaping” and mixing with unmodified ones are unknown. Health Hazards There are several differences between the normal breeding process and the artificial genetic manipulation process. One key difference is the use of highly infectious viruses for artificial genetic manipulation as a promoter to witch on the introduced gene. Some of the viruses used are highly infectious. Genetic manipulation can increase the risk that the plant will develop toxic or allergy-causing compounds. Another possibility is that regulate exposure to foreign DNA and RNA material inserted into these artificial foods could cause allergic reactions or autoimmune disease. Allergens A number of molecular mechanisms have also been identified through which the genetic manipulation of food producing organisms could generate new allergens or increase the allergenicity of proteins normally present in food producing organisms. Because allergen-carrying transgenic foods will in most cases maintain the appearance of their natural, non-allerg...
