Transgenic Foods And Its Impact On Health

Transgenic foods and its impact on health

Introduction

Biotechnology has been constantly advanced since man discovered it, one of the fields in which it is applied is in agriculture, resulting together with the use of genetic engineering, the creation of the so -called transgenic foods, which havegenerated a great debate worldwide, due to whether they could consider them a benefit for society or the opposite.

The genetic engineering or recombinant DNA technology is the science that manipulates DNA sequences (which normally encode genes) directly, enabling its extraction of a given biological taxon and its inclusion in another, as well as the modification or elimination of these genes. This differs from classical improvement, which is the science that introduces DNA fragments (counting as in the previous case) indirectly, through directed crossings. (RSE, 2010)

Likewise, it is important to know what we consume daily, and be certain that it is not harmful to our health, currently in the international market this type of food is common to find them, both supermarkets and in large hectares of crops, in countriesthat are authorized of them. Currently in the national market there is any amount of food of this type, which is very worrying, although it is true that these foods are created in order to help society in terms of crop preservation, since theThey make climate changes more resistant, and rapidly, resulting in food according to the special and desired characteristics of man, society is not completely informed about this issue, that is why it is important to publicize certain pointsWhere this can be a double -edged sword.

Developing

We know transgenic foods such as those who have undergone changes in their DNA, that is, they are genetically modified, their composition comes from an organism that contains a gene of another species (foreign gene), this gene has been modified by experts in the subjectTo include them in other uorganism plants, to obtain different characteristics, changes in their structure or an improvement at the nutritional level, through the application of genetic engineering.

According to (WHO, 2014): genetically modified organisms (OGM) can be defined as organisms (that is, plants, animals or microorganisms) in which genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that is notnaturally produces by mating and / or natural recombination. Technology is often called ‘modern biotechnology’ or ‘genetic technology’, sometimes also ‘recombinant DNA technology’ or ‘genetic engineering’. It allows selected individual genes to transfer from one organism to another, also between unrelated species. Foods produced from or using GM organisms are often known as GM foods. (p.1)

So, once we already know what a transgenic is possible that: transgenic foods are a good for our health and does not affect it?

This trial aims to describe the impact that transgenic foods have on health, through the use of scientific dissemination articles, to raise awareness of the Ecuadorian population about its consumption.

Origin of transgenic foods

This begins from the nomadic man, when he became sedentary and realize that he could control the growth of plants and animals, developing agriculture, entering the stage of evolution.

Little by little, population growth was very demanding and the need for food, in the same way, this led them to look for in a more efficient way by which they can supply the masses.

In the 18th century, the industrial revolution arrives in Europe, which gave way to the agricultural revolution, where the fields were invaded of machinery and implements that would be used to accelerate the crops and thus be able to supply populations, science with the stepFrom the years it is advancing until in the middle of the twentieth century, when the Avanece scientists began to leave their mark on history, with the discovery of the structure of the ADN in 1953, which is the molecule where all the genetic information of aSpecies or being alive, in this way it was possible to understand how the genetic transfer of parents A, the origin of inherited mutations and diseases, which was a revolution in the field of biotechnology with techniques to modify the genes of aorganism and crops with genetic modification that are called transgenic foods.

Genetic research charged a remarkable impulse through a series of events, where the description that in 1953 Watson and Crick made of DNA as Helical Structure is highlighted. When it refers strictly at the beginning of modern biotechnology, the decisive moment was between 1972 and 1974, when in a series of experiments developed in American universities it was possible to cut a fragment of DNA of a species and integrate it into the genetic sequence ofother. (Pellegrini, 2013)

Background

One of the first indications of genetic manipulation was in the year of 1973, by American biochemists Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen, both were the first people who managed to transfer the DNA from one organism to another.

In 1981, eight years later, they managed to transfer the DNA to the following generations. Using a gene gun, they introduced purified DNA to a mouse embryo through this. (Black, 2017)

The first transgenic plant was created in 1983, only for experimentation purposes and demonstrate whether it was possible. This process was carried out by scientists Michael W. Bevan, Richard B. Flavell and Mary-Dell Chilton, who were interested in fighting agrobacterium bacteria, then their goal focused on creating a transgene capable of resisting an antibiotic that attacked this bacteria.

In 1983 the first experiments were made to develop transgenic plants, and that same year it was possible to introduce the gene of a firefly to the tobacco plant to get it fluorescent, and although it was a non -commercial experiment, shortly after it beganThe development of transgenic seeds to launch them to the market ‘. (A. Enciso, 2007)

But it was in 1986 where the first genetically modified tobacco plant was announced, it had added a foreign gene of resistance to the Kanamycin antibiotic, to its genome. In China the first transgenic plant was marketed, being this tobacco, which was resistant to a virus.

One of the first transgenic plantations approved in the US.Uu stop being legally marketed, it was tomato in 1994, which had certain characteristics with respect to their maturation, but shortly afterwards they removed them from the market for certain shortcomings in their morphology, putting traditional tomatoes instead.

In 1994, it was approved in the USA.Uu the commercialization of the first transgenic food, a tomato of the Flavrsavr type. This tomato was introduced a gene that induced its maturation, so that it endured more mature time and delayed its rot. Two years later Flavrsavr had to be removed from the market because it presented soft skin, strange flavor and changes in its composition. (Information, 2014)

The plantations that are made on a larger scale and is more abundant in the transgenic food market, is corn, soy and cotton.

The RR soy (round -suppressive), this is resistant to glyphosate, as well as transgenic corn, this is a herbicide substance which kills weeds, except for the plant that is already modified, its manufacturer is the Monsanto company, andThey introduced it to the market in 1996, to the country of Argentina.

The transgenic corn or BT corn, had if the first appearance in the year of 1998, in the USA.UU. This new seed had self-resistance to steep climate changes and pest attack, incorporating a gene from the bacillusthuriengiesis bacteria, which is responsible for eliminating the worms, which drill the corn stem and make rot inside.

The BT corn, which is a variety of corn that encodes for a protein called ‘cry’ of the bacillusthuriginensis bacteria and that is specifically toxic to the ‘European barage worm’ of corn, ostrinianubilalis (hübner) (lep., Pyralidae), one of the main pests of this crop, being harmless for mammals, birds and other insects. (Huanca Mamani, 2009)

Situation in other countries

As time has elapsed, these types of crops have been expanding worldwide, since its introduction to the market in 1996. In Latin America there are several countries that have legalized their cultivation, purchase and sale of genetically modified foods, giving way to a new era of changes.

According to data from (ISAAA, the adoption of biotechnological crops increases as economic benefits, 2017): the global biotechnological crops area has increased 112 times from 1.7 million hectares in 1996 to 189.8 million hectares in 2017, this makes biotechnological crops. In 22 years (1996-2017) of commercialization of biotechnological crops, 2.3 billion hectares or 5.9 billion acres.

Among the countries in which the introduction of transgenic seeds at the South American level has been legalized are: Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Uruguay, Colombia, and Chile.

In Brazil, it occupies second place in the table of countries that have sown more genetically modified organisms (OGMS) in 2017, with 50 million hectares of soybeans, corn and cotton.

Brazil planted the second highest area of biotechnological crops worldwide in 2017 in 50.2 million hectares compared to 49.1 million hectares in 2016, an increase of 2% or 1.1 million hectares, and represents 26% of the global biotechnology area of 189.8 million hectares. Biotechnological crops planted in the country include soybeans in 33.7 million hectares, corn (summer and winter) in 15.6 million hectares and cotton in 940,000 hectares. 

The total area planted from these three crops in Brazil was 53.4 million hectares, an increase of 1% of 52.6 million hectares in 2016. 50.2 million hectares of biotechnological crops area have an adoption rate of 94%, a 1% increase since 2016. The area the culture of biotechnological soy and cotton increased significantly in 2017 compared to 2016 due to profitability, the highest prices, the high demand of the market both nationally and internationally, and the available seed technologies. The slight reduction in biotechnological corn was due to low current prices and the expansion of the soy area in the country. (ISAAA, the adoption of biotechnological crops increases as economic benefits, 2017)

On the other hand Argentina is one of the main export countries, occupying third place, preceded by Brazil, with 23.6 million hectares of soybeans, corn and cotton, which are the most popular.

12% of the world surface of biotechnological crops of 1898, millions of hectares. Argentina had a slight decrease in the biotechnological crop area in 2017 compared to 2016 in 23.82 million hectares. The slight decrease was due to the reduction of biotechnological soybean planting in -3% (18.7 million hectares in 2016 to 18.1 million hectares in 2017), and -38% (from 380,000 hectares in 2016 to 250,000 hectares in 2017) for biotechnological cotton. 

Paraguay, in sixth place with 3.0 million hectares of soybeans, corn, and cotton, bolivia occupied the tenth place, with 1.3 million hectares, Uruguay in Onceavo place with 1.14 million hectares, Colombia in tenth eighth place with 95,000 hectares, and Chile with 13,000 hectares in the very twenty place first. (ISAAA, the adoption of biotechnological crops increases as economic benefits, 2017)

Situation in Ecuador

In Ecuador, seed income and transgenic crops are not legally authorized, however the entry of certain export products to the market are marketed with the only law that puts as a condition label exclusively to this type of transgenic products, so thatThe Ecuadorian population knows what you are consuming and has the freedom to choose.

In article 401 of the Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador, it indicates: Ecuador free of crops and transgenic seeds is declared. Exceptionally, and only in the case of national interest duly based on the Presidency of the Republic and approved by the National Assembly, genetically modified seeds and crops may be introduced. The State will regulate under strict standards of biosecurity, the use and development of modern biotechnology and its products, as well as its experimentation, use and commercialization. The application of risky or experimental biotechnologies is prohibited. (Ecuador, Constitution of, 2008)

In addition, there are several articles in which it protects the country from any risk that threatens biodiversity.

In 2013, in the country a monitoring was made to find out if there were indications about the Roundup Ready transgenic protein in the soybean that was addressed to the Ecuadorian population. However, in the 7 provinces in which this study was made, 19 of them had genetically modified soyfood and drink that companies produce or market in Ecuador should include a label which would inform society whether or not that product contains transgenic origin components.

In May 2017, it was included in the Agrobiodiversity, Seeds and Promotion of Sustainable Agriculture Article 56, which allowed the entry of this type of seeds only for investigative purposes.

Risk factor’s

There are different risks in which humanity could be exposed due to the intake of these modified foods (OMGS), so there are currently various ecological organizations that dismiss their consumption, in Ecuador for example campaigns againstThese, with messages such as ‘Ecuador Territory free of transgenics’, and others which focus on promoting agroecology.

Among these risks we have:

• Allergies.

For a while, allergies have presented themselves in people. Products, in which they consist with a high percentage of protein, whether vegetable or marine, are the most common allergens. They are associated with transgenic foods due to the fact that these are exposed to an introduction of new proteins in their DNA, which can cause allergies to a specific group of people.

An example of this is the case of the Brazilian nut, in which a type of transgenic soybeans were created by introducing a protein of this nut, this to provide them with sulfur amino acids, and that in this way this new type of soy contains this proteinfrom which it is poor, but a problem arose since if soybeans contains a protein of this nut, it could cause an allergic effect on people who are allergic to this nut, since it contains its protein. Because of this, it was not possible, nor could it be introduced into the food chain.

• Antibiotic resistance.

In the creation of transgenic foods, certain resistance markers are inserted, which generates, as its name says, a resistance, but it will do so to an antibiotic, by consuming this product with this modification, its resistance to our body of equal would be transmittedform, this due to a horizontal transfer that could be possible, the resistance gene that was inserted into the transgenic food when consuming it, the microorganisms that exist in the human body, could acquire this resistance, which would cause a problem when givingAn equis pathology treatment, this is one of the biggest risks.

To choose the resistance genes, those antibiotics that are no longer used as a human medication have already been used, because there are already strains of infectious bacteria with resistance to it, for example the penicillin G, the same that is used in the transgenic corn of Novartis. This corn is capable of producing an enzyme, penicillinase, capable of degrading penicillins. However, a mutation in the gene is able to inactivate the action of another group of antibiotics: cephalosporins. The resistance transfer of these antibiotics, which are the most commonly prescribed for a series of infections, can generate serious public health problems. (Uruguay, 2000)

• Toxicity.

As mentioned above, the herbicide that is commonly used in transgenic crops is glyphosate or roundup, modified plants, in their DNA they have tolerance to said herbicide, that is, it will not cause any type of damage to them, byTherefore when they are sprayed by this agrochemical, to eliminate the pests that exist, they are present in the transgenic crops residues of the same. What has generated fears about its safety.

In the month of March of the year 2015, WHO, together with the International Center for Cancer Research (IARC) declared glyphosate as a probable cause of cancer, due to several cases and studies that have studied scientists.

The glyphosate herbicide and the insecticides of malathion and diazinon have probably classified as carcinogens for humans (Group 2A). This was based on ‘limited’ evidence of human cancer (of real world exhibition. IARC also concluded that there was "strong" evidence of genotoxicity, both for glyphosate ‘pure’ and glyphosate formulations. (IARC, 2015)

Causal agent

One of the main causes of health damage is herbicides, since they are used in the field of agriculture, and if we focus on the field of genetically modified foods, we have as a risk factor the toxicity that this can generate,In addition to that, this type of agrochemical can cause some teratogenic effects.

Pesticides are chemicals used in agriculture to protect crops from insects, fungi, weeds and other pests. In addition to their use in agriculture, pesticides are also used to protect public health in the control of disease vectors. However, pesticides are potentially toxic to humans. They can induce adverse health effects such as cancer, effects on reproduction or immune system and nervous system. Before being authorized for use, pesticides must be tested before all possible health effects and results must be analyzed by experts that evaluate the risk for human beings. (OPS, 2015)

One of the most significant examples where we can see the impact on which these are ravage in the life of human beings is in the country of Argentina, province of Entre Ríos, San Salvador since several cases and indexes have been presentedof cancer and various pathologies in its population, this is because in this place it is where there is more production in the field of transgenic food agriculture focusing, thus, on the transgenic soybean plant. One of the cases known at the public level is that of Fabián Tomasi, a farmer who worked in 2005 for a company that is dedicated to this field, so that people who supply these herbicides to the entire field of cultivation were required,which, being very extensive, did it in fumigation planes. Its exposure to various types of herbicides such as DDT, and glyphosate, has led to a disease called severe toxic polyneuropathy that completely attacks the peripheral nervous system, is a condition that causes a decrease in the ability to move or feel (sensitivity) due to aneurological damage. (Medlineplus, 2017), which began to affect it from the immobility of the hands, until it deforms its body completely, added to that internal problems due to the great loss of muscle mass that this disease caused it. Lost the battle in 2018. And since there are many other people who suffer from different pathologies affecting the most innocent.

Causes and signs

Now, if the above could be produced with only exposure to this types of herbicides, internally of the body, how many more things could happen? Studies carried out show us the consequences of transgenic food intake, in the health of mammals, affecting organs of the digestive system.

The first study consisted of observing 19 mammals, which were fed with transgenic soybeans and corn found in the market, which lasted 90 days.

The following study was also evaluated in mammals for 90 days feeding them with genetically modified corn, only that it was carried out in 2016 and it was shown that it caused damage to other digestive organs.

Complications

In the first study, liver and kidney problems were presented, due to OGM intake. Where it was evaluated that in men more effects were evaluated in the kidneys, on the other hand in the liver, in the case of women.

This was confirmed by our meta -analysis of all published in vivo studies, which revealed that the kidneys were particularly affected, concentrating 43.5% of all altered parameters in men, while the liver was more specifically interrupted in women (30.8% of all parameters). (Séralini et al, 2011)     

In 2016, another study made in mammals, revealed that it caused damage at the intestinal level, specifically in the moby of the jejunum (part of the small intestine). They were fed with a corn that is marketed in the market.

In rats fed with transgenics, some areas of the villi (structures in the form of fingers in the intestine that absorb food nutrients) were damaged). They were distorted and flattened, with some united cells. (Robinson, 2016)

Diagnosis

The crypts (mucous glands) broke and blood vessels were congested. Signs of inflammation (infiltration of white blood cells) were observed around damaged areas. In addition, intestinal lining cells had an abnormal structure. Other damage signs included a greater detachment of mucous cells, a greater number of mucosa secretory cells and higher division rates of cells that cover crypts. (Robinson, 2016)

Symptoms

Ibrahim and Okasha pointed out that rats fed with transgenic feed did not have clear signs of disease or behavior alteration. This is not very surprising, given the relatively short duration (90 days) of the study. However, the animals were sick, as the histopathological examination of the intestinal tissue reveals, and the data clearly indicates that a long -term food study should be carried out with a duration of 2 years or more to check if damage to the damage to theIntestinal mucosa found would become at some point a clearly appreciable disease. (Robinson, 2016)

Specialist

A toxicologist specializing in food toxicology studies the adverse effects on living beings that have been exposed to chemicals present in food. This type of specialist is responsible for research and security surveillance at food level both in industry and public companies. Food toxicology is based on the study of chemical, additive and contaminating components of food and their adverse effects on the body. (Vargas Flores, 2014)

conclusion

To conclude we can appreciate the scope of the evolution of human beings from the discovery of biotechnology and its progress, thus extending to the different fields, one of that is agriculture generating different kinds of food and genetically modified products forHuman consumption, on the other hand its reception over the years and in different countries it has been given and in others not, by its laws regarding the safety of biodiversity of any country that has as a law is, for example in Ecuador. The studies carried out by the large companies dedicated to this business have declared on several occasions that it does not affect human health, however the relevant tests have not been carried out, and in the few tests that have been presented, theImpact that has at the level of our body, all the necessary information to understand, understand and thus be able to take a correct choice at the time of acquiring any food or product has been exposed. Remember that: in the absence of adequate security studies, the lack of evidence that GM foods are insane cannot be interpreted as a security test. (Institute, 2015)