Türk Biyokimya Dergisi (Sep 2006)
The Sweet Trouble on Our Tables, Genetically Modified Organisms and Their Effects on Public Health]
Abstract
The incredibly rapid development of gene technology, nowadays, departs frombeing only a field of inquiry but extends itself to our daily lives in various areasfrom health to food and from objects we use to our pets. Genetically modifiedorganisms which are the most attractive products of gene technology carry on beingthe top issues of the world’s agenda.Our article focuses on especially the geneticallymodified foods and tries to investigate this biotechnological method together withits technique, effects on public health and socioeconomic aspects. The supportersindicate that this technology will be a solution for the malnutrition problem by bothincreasing production and changing the nutritional value. Also, gene technologywill make it possible to decrease the allergenicity of the foods, use them as vaccinesand let more people get cheaper foods by decreasing the production costs.The proponents claim that these foods will increase the allergenicity of the foods,antibiotic resistance of the microorganisms and will be toxic to many individualswhile it will decrease genetic variation in the world as time passes, increaseeconomic dependency to abroad and small farmers will suffer from this. Since thisis a new and rapidly developing technology observations and researches in timewould better shed light on this field.
