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Safety

Laws and regulations

World Health Organization of the United Nations

GM foods currently available on the international market have passed safety assessments and are not likely to present risks for human health. In addition, no effects on human health have been shown as a result of the consumption of such foods by the general population in the countries where they have been approved.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Currently available transgenic crops and foods derived from them have been judged safe to eat and the methods used to test their safety have been deemed appropriate. To date no verifiable untoward toxic or nutritionally deleterious effects resulting from the consumption of foods derived from genetically modified crops have been discovered anywhere in the world (GM Science Review Panel). Many millions of people have consumed foods derived from GM plants – mainly maize, soybean and oilseed rape – without any observed adverse effects (ICSU).

The United States of America

The main conclusion to be drawn from the efforts of more than 130 research projects, covering a period of more than 25 years of research, and involving more than 500 independent research groups, is that biotechnology, and in particular GMOs, are not per se more risky than e.g. conventional plant breeding technologies. These activities provide at least equal assurance of the safety of these foods compared to conventional counterparts, provided these GM products have been approved by the EU and the national food safety evaluation procedures.

European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation

Regulation of GM crops in the United States is divided among three regulatory agencies: the Environmental Projection Agency (EPA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Each of these agencies regulates transgenic crops from a different perspective. FDA is responsible for regulating the safety of GM crops that are eaten by humans or animals. According to a policy established in 1992, FDA considers most GM crops as “substantially equivalent” to non-GM crops. In such cases, GM crops are designated as “Generally Recognized as Safe” under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) and do not require pre-market approval.

Risk assessment

1. When the flasks and media were sterilized by autoclaving, the temperature will raise as high as 115 to 121, which may burn ourselves without any protection.

2. Before sample analysis, we will use needles to filter these. We will be very careful to the handing of needles.

3. We extract the products from the cells of engineered L. Lactic with 1.2M perchloric acid, which is a kind of strong acid can cause the chemical ambustions.

4. We detect nucleic acid by nucleic acid gel electrophoresis. Nucleic acid dyes are toxic to humans.

5. We detect specific protein by SDS-PAGE. The reagents such as TEMED, APS, and Acrylamide and SDS are toxic to humans. And acrylamide is volatile.

6. At present, we choose plasmid pNZ8148 as the vector to express proteins. This plasmid contain chloramphenicol resistance. We will add Chloramphenicol into medium to maintain the vector. The Chloramphenicol resistance gene may be transferred to other microbes if the resulted cells were not killed after the experiment.

7. The protein CwaA is a cell wall anchoring protein from Lactobacillus, which is used to improve the colonization of lactic acid bacteria in the intestine. This protein may cause allergic reactions to some susceptible people.

8. Our resulted strain and yoghurt product should be evaluated for their safeties according to national law and regulation before its large-scale application for yoghurt industry.