Is it true that eating GMO foods can change your genetic code?

Many people are seriously concerned that eating genetically modified foods may change their DNA, and therefore only look for products labeled “non-GMO” in supermarkets. We decided to check whether their fears were justified.

Questions like this regularly are given users on the Internet, bloggers and some media outlets are broadcasting about the potential harm of GMOs. Exploiting these fears, some unscrupulous manufacturers of not only products, but also cosmetic funds and even condoms place the inscription “No GMOs” on their products and, due to this, increase their prices. According to opinion polls, people really ready overpay for similar products, while question “ordinary plants: potatoes, tomatoes, etc. - do not contain genes, but genetically modified plants do” were answered correctly by only 29% in 2009; in 2018, this percentage rose to 42.

The first genetically modified (GM) product created in 1972 by Paul Berg at Stanford University, for which he received the Nobel Prize in 1980. In 1983 at the Institute of Plant Science in Cologne brought out Pest-resistant GM tobacco, and the first GM corn was planted in 1988.

Gene modification technology is is that the gene of another organism is “planted” into the organism (in the described cases of plants), forcing the first to behave in a special, scientifically programmed way - for example, actively bear fruit, produce more milk, or grow faster. Before the rise of genetic technology, people spent years selecting and crossing species that had a desired trait in order to fix it in the population, this process is called selection and is still used today. Also, as part of selection, hybridization can be carried out: a pair of species is selected, each of which has a useful property, and by crossing, scientists obtain offspring that have both. However, selection and hybridization have their limitations. During selection, only a property that is already present in the population can be cultivated and consolidated, and a hybrid can only be created from related organisms (for example, a hybrid of a mare and a donkey - a mule). Also, in the course of some crosses, males turn out to be infertile - for example, hybrids are not capable of reproducing lions and tigers: ligers and tiglons.

Another problem of selection is that along with the desired trait, undesirable ones are also inherited, calling into question the advisability of further procreation of these individuals. This is why Scottish Fold cats acceptable breed only with straight-eared cats and vice versa, since inheriting the lop-eared gene is associated with an unreasonably high risk of inheriting diseases of the musculoskeletal system. In addition, selection is usually a slow process. It is necessary to carry out selection over several generations, and while in plants this may take several years, in animals it may take dozens. This is where genetic engineering comes to the aid of humans, making it possible to supplement the genetic code of one species with the properties of another (Creation drought-resistant wheat by introducing the scorpion gene), and to carry out the change within just one generation.

Moreover, even without genetic engineering, every living organism (including humans) is, essentially a mutant, since we are all slightly different from our ancestors. Moreover, in the human body already discovered 145 genes inherited from other species: bacteria, eukaryotes, viruses.

Mutations can be hereditary, that is, those that occurred during the transfer of genetic material from the father or mother, and acquired. Purchased include includes recombination and mutations caused by various unfavorable environmental factors - mutagens. Mutagens there are three types: chemical, physical and biological. Chemicals include a wide range of substances - some alkaloids, pesticides, nitrates and others. Physical include exposure to x-rays, electromagnetic and gamma radiation, as well as radioactive decay. Biological represented by exposure to certain viruses - measles, rubella, influenza, antigens of microorganisms, transposons DNA and some metabolic products. In principle, only after understanding the types of mutagens, we can conclude that GMOs cannot change DNA: they do not contain the listed chemicals, do not emit ultraviolet, x-rays, or gamma rays, and also do not contain the listed viral particles. 

However, let’s figure out how the DNA of the food we consume generally interacts with our genetic code. DNA is a molecule made up of nucleotides that encodes information about our body. Farmed meat and game, vegetables from large farms and berries picked in the middle of the taiga have their own DNA. By calculations Scientists estimate that plant and animal cells contain about 30,000 genes. When cooked, most of them are destroyed, but even vegetables eaten raw cannot transfer their DNA to us and make us a bit of a vegetable. The DNA and proteins that enter our body are almost completely are splitting in the process of digestion with the help of enzymes, turning into organic molecules familiar to us. However, how found out scientists, part of the genetic material of food (not necessarily genetically modified) - not the whole DNA, but a few hundred base pairs - can remain in the body and even help it. Thus, microRNA type MIR168a, contained in rice, associated with the transport of cholesterol and its breakdown in the liver, promotes protection person from atherosclerosis. WHO confirms: consumption of GM food is absolutely harmless to humans, not recorded no adverse health effects.

At the same time, gene therapy has enormous potential in the treatment of diseases previously considered incurable. The required gene is introduced into the person, replacing the faulty ones. On this principle built the drug Zolgensma, curing spinal muscular atrophy, a drug for hemophilia, transgenic leather, helping patients with epidermolysis bullosa, as well as several drug development from different types of cancer. That is, genetically modified people already exist among us.

Thus, the statement that “we are what we eat” is true only in a metaphorical sense. Having tasted potatoes genetically modified for frost resistance, we will not become more frost-resistant, much less mutate into potatoes. GM foods contain several altered or additional DNA sequences that are converted into normal nutrients by digestive enzymes in our stomachs.

Not true

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Is it possible to create genetically modified children?
2. Death from GMOs: how the Russian media fell for an old fake