1. Genetically Modified
Food and Its
Consequences on
Human Health and
Nutrition
Ziaul Hasan Rana

2. CONTENT
o Introduction
o Rationale
o Objective
o Methods & Materials
o Findings & Discussion
o Conclusion
o Recommendation
o References & Bibliography

3. INTRODUCTION
Genetic engineering is the process that
uses the techniques of molecular cloning and
transformation to alter the
structure and Characteristics of genes
Genetic engineering is
about scientists altering
the 'recipes' for making
life

4. How does it work?
• Taking a desired genetic trait out of a donor
organism and putting it into a food in order for that
food to show the desired trait.

5. What is Genetic Engineering used for?
Scientists uses it to knock out certain
genes from an organism to observe
the effects caused by those genes.
Manipulate the genes of
other organisms in order
to produce beneficial
products for
humans.

6. Genetically Modified Food
• A food that has been genetically enhanced
through molecular biology.

7. • Some claim that the use of GM technology is
important to help farmers to increase food
production to avoid existing poverty, hunger
and malnutrition. While new technology must
be tested before it is commercially released, we
should be mindful of the risks of not releasing
it.
• GM crops would allow farmers to use fewer
pesticides, therefore helping the environment,
reducing production costs and making the
crops less labor intensive. This would, in turn,
reduce the cost for consumers.
• The concept of enhancing the nutritional value
of food, by genetically modifying crops, is a
controversial and multi-faceted topic.

8. • Nearly 40% of the world's food
crop is lost every year to insects,
fungal diseases and spoilage that
biotechnology helps prevent.
• Scientists also say GM crops are
needed to meet the increasing
food demand, especially in the
developing world.

9.  There are significant differences
between the types of GM foods that are
being introduced into developed and
developing countries.
• In developed countries, GM foods
have been created to benefit
industrialized countries and to enhance
the commercial appeal of particular
produce.
• In developing countries, however,
GM food would be nutritionally
enhanced and would be used to ensure
the population was receiving adequate
nutrients, rather than being aimed at
increasing yields.

10. RATIONALE
•The world population has topped 6 billion people and
is predicted to double in the next 50 years. Ensuring an
adequate food supply for this booming population is
going to be` a major challenge in the years to come. GM
foods promise to meet this need in a number of ways.
• WHO has been addressing a wide range of issues in
the field of biotechnology and human health, including
safety evaluation of vaccines produced using
biotechnology, human cloning and gene therapy.
• Micronutrient malnutrition has been acknowledged as
the root cause of many health problems in developing
countries. Around the world, two billion people do not
receive enough essential vitamins and minerals and are
considered malnourished. GM foods would be a
possible solution to this widespread problem through
supplementing available food crops, grains with their
lacking micronutrient contents.

11. OBJECTIVE
 The expansion of Genetically Modified Food
and its domain in human life cycle
progression.
 In what extant GM foods promise to ensure an
adequate food supply for this booming
population is going to be a major challenge in
the years to come.
 Affiliation of Nutrition with Genetically
Modified Food and thus explore positive
contribution in combating malnutrition.

12. METHODS & MATERIALS
• Reviewing of various published
journals, articles
• Review papers
• Desk reports
• Google search engine

13. FINDINGS
&
DISCUSSION

14. Procedure of Genetic Modification
Developing a problem
Identifying a gene that produces a genetic trait
of interest to solve this problem
Finding a donor organism
Separating the gene from the rest of the genetic
material of the donor
Use gene gun or electricity to break through the
cell wall and inject this gene into a food in
order for it to show that trait

15. Some Revolutionary Periods
1960-1970 Isolation of restriction enzymes and their use to
analyse DNA structure.
1981-1982 First transgenic animals (mice) produced.
1983-1985 First transgenic plants produced.
1990-1992 First transgenic cereal plants (maize and
wheat)
1992-1993 Regulations for deliberate release of
genetically engineered organisms.
1994 Genetically engineered tomato marketed in
USA.

16. EXAMPLES OF GM FOODS
• Corn
• Rice
• Tomatoes
• Rapeseed
• Honey
• Cotton
• Soybean
• Sugar Cane
• Canola
• Potatoes
• Cattle
• Papaya
• Squash

17. First Commercially Genetically
Modified Food
• A tomato implanted with a gene from E.
coli.
• A tomato that will not soften while
ripening on the vine.
• The transgenic tomato would allow
tomatoes to be shipped safely, keep
their color, and have their natural
flavors.
• Increased shelf life.
Flvr Savr

18. Some Examples of Utilization
• Bt corn – US, 1996
• Roundup Ready
Soybeans – US, 1996
• Flavr Savr tomatoes –
US, 1994
• “Golden Rice” –
Switzerland, 1999

19. Countries mostly involved GM
Foods application

20. US Revenues From Major GM
Crops

21. ADVANTAGES
• Enhance desired traits
• Pest resistance
• Improve nutritional content
• Less time than controlled breeding
• Improves accuracy
• Herbicide tolerance
• Cold tolerance
• Medical advantages e.g. edible vaccines
• Virtual end of world hunger e.g. no malnutrition
• Cheaper or faster to grow & don’t have to be rich in
plant
• Endless possibilities & anything alive can be
genetically modified
• Reduce production cost to reduced chemical and
mechanical needs in planting, maintenance and
harvest.

22. “Golden Rice”
The so-called “Golden Rice” is a genetically
modified crop that was developed by Swiss
and German scientists in 1999. This breed of
rice was engineered to produce higher levels
of beta-carotene, the precursor of Vitamin A in
the human body. Increased levels of this
substance give the rice its characteristic
“golden” color.
Millions of people around the world suffer
from vitamin A deficiency (VAD), with the
majority living in developing countries.
Advanced VAD can lead to blindness.
Pregnant women and children are especially
vulnerable. VAD is responsible for blindness
in about 350,000 children and over a million
deaths each year.

23. • Scientists at the Bangladesh
Agricultural Research Institute (BARI)
and Bangladesh Rice Research
Institute (BRRI) are conducting
glasshouse and field trials of
genetically modified (GM) varieties of
eggplants, potatoes and vitamin-A
enriched Golden Rice developed in
collaboration with foreign universities
and research institutes.

24.  Genetically Modified Fish
e.g. Salmon, Tilapia, Zebrafish
 Cassava
Rich in calories but is lacking in nutrients,
such as vitamin A, iron, and protein (Nigeria
and Kenya).
 GM Banana
With improved resistance to a devastating
fungal disease.
 Soyabeans
With higher protein content are already
being discerned.
 Sweet Potato
Vitamin A-rich orange-fleshed sweet
potatoes. (Mozambique and Uganda).

25. • Pharmaceuticals:
Researchers are working to develop edible
vaccines in tomatoes and potatoes.
These vaccines will be much easier to ship,
store and administer than traditional injectable
vaccines.
• Phytoremediation:
Plants such as poplar trees have been
genetically engineered to clean up heavy metal
pollution from contaminated soil.

26. DISADVATAGES
• Human health risk so Unfamiliar foreign proteins
e.g. allergic reactions
• Genes resistant to antibiotics e.g. dangerous
disease transmittable to humans
• Some carcinogenic properties causing cancer (long
term effects)
• Toxic compound (glyphosphate in Roundup)
harming development in children and adult
• The golden rice with more beta-carotene has too
much of a pigment called xanthophylls, and the rice
with less glutelin has more of the protein proclaim,
which can be an allergen.
• Ethical concern (Religious)
• Money cost approbation
• Antibiotic resistant
• Resistant weed

27.  IGF-1 – Insulin-like Growth Hormone 1:
synthetic rBGH into cows > IGF-1 > limits
certain physiologic activities > IGF-1 transfer to
humans through commercial milk.
 Antibiotics in Milk:
effect on human intestinal probiotics after
consumption of such over-medicated milk.
 Incidents already occurring :
• 1989 incident killed dozens with infected food
supplement L- tryptophan.
• 2006, exported contaminated rice genes.

28. GM Restricted Countries
• Africa: Algeria, Egypt
• Asia: Sri Lanka, Thailand, Japan,
Philippine
• Europe: Norway, UK, Spain, Italy, France
• Middle East: Saudi Arabia
• Pacific: Fiji, Australia, New Zealand

29. PUBLIC CONCERN ABOUT GM FOOD

30. CONCLUSION
• Any new technology has its set of advantages
and disadvantages. However you cannot
condemn a beneficial technology because of
the possible misuse. The simple solution is to
use the technology with great caution.
• They are a topic of much deliberation and
tension; very prevalent in some parts of the
world and banned in others
• Ultimately, GMO’s are still a relatively premature
technology and in the developmental process.
Only time will reveal their ultimate effect on
humans.

31. RECOMMANDATIONS
• Nutritionist to educate their patients, the medical
community, and the public to avoid GM foods when
possible and provide educational materials concerning GM
foods and health risk.
• Our members, the medical community, and the independent
scientific community to gather case studies potentially
related to GM food consumption and health effects, begin
epidemiological research to investigate the role of GM
foods on human health, and conduct safe methods of
determining the effect of GM foods on human health.
• For a moratorium on GM food, implementation of immediate
long term independent safety testing, labeling of GM foods,
which is necessary for the health and safety of consumers.

32. REFERENCES & BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering Reviews. Nov 2004. 21.
• Ewen S, Pustzai A. Effects of diets containing genetically modified potatoes expressing Galanthus
nivalis lectin on rat small intestine. Lancet. 354:1353-1354.
• Finamore A, Roselli M, Britti S, et al. Intestinal and peripheral immune response to MON 810 maize
ingestion in weaning and old mice. J Agric. Food Chem. 2008; 56(23):11533-11539.
• Genetically Modified Foods Position Paper AAEM
• Gurain-Sherman,D. 2009. Failure to yield: evaluating the performance of genetically engineered crops.
Cambridge (MA): Union of Concerned Scientists.
• Hill, AB. The environment and disease: association or causation? Proceeding of the Royal Society of
Medicine 1965; 58:295-300.
• Kroghsbo S, Madsen C, Poulsen M, et al. Immunotoxicological studies of genetically modified rice
expression PHA-E lectin or Bt toxin in Wistar rats. Toxicology. 2008; 245:24-34.
• Lofstedt R. The precautionary principle: risk, regulation and politics. Merton College, Oxford. 2002.
• Malatesta M, Boraldi F, Annovi G, et al. A long-term study on female mice fed on a genetically modified
soybean: effects on liver ageing. Histochem Cell Biol. 2008; 130:967-977.
• Society of Toxicology. The safety of genetically modified foods produced through biotechnology.
Toxicol. Sci. 2003; 71:2-8.
• World Health Organization. (Internet)(2002). Foods derived from modern technology: 20 questions on
genetically modified foods.