Food Safety: Is Food From GM Crops Safe?

The first large acreage plantings of GM crops, herbicide tolerant soybeans and canola, took place in 1996 after successfully passing US regulatory review. Since then, additional GM crops with herbicide tolerance, insect tolerance and virus resistance have been given clearance for planting and consumption. These include varieties of corn, sugar beets, squash and papaya. All of these crops have been assessed for food and feed safety in producing countries, and many more countries have approved the import of food or food ingredients that contain food from GM crops. There has not been a single substantiated instance of illness or harm associated with GM crops. Why aren't you running human clinical trials on GM crops? Because existing food crops are recognized as safe, the logical starting point for safety assessment of a GM food is to ask "what is different?" Aspects of the GM crop which are the same as the non-GM counterpart do not require safety assessment. Safety assessment can then be appropriately focused on what is different about the GM crop. All GM crops are analyzed and compared to non-GM counterparts in order to determine whether they have similar concentrations of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, amino acids, fiber, vitamins and a variety of other components. Two crops which are alike in all respects are said to be "substantially equivalent." All crops vary in nutrient and other components. No two crops, or even samples of the same crop, are identical.