As a person actively supporting modern biotechnology and modern agricultural technology, one question that is often asked is: Do you dare to eat foods such as genetically modified foods that have not yet been fully confirmed? My answer is: As long as it is listed on the food, I do not consider whether it is genetically modified, as long as delicious and cheap I eat.
In fact, for most of the public, the most worrying thing is whether "this thing will not be safe." My professional knowledge tells me that “absolutely safe†food does not exist at all. Compared to traditional foods, GM foods are not likely to be “harmfulâ€. In some ways, its security risk is even lower.
The most common question for genetically modified rice that causes many people to worry about is: “Do insects die when they eat? Can they be harmful to humans?†Compared with traditional rice, the current transgenic rice is just a Bt gene. . The role of this gene is to express a protein, which is a poison for pests. The reason why it can poison pests is because insects can bind to receptors in insects after they eat them, and thus produce toxicity and kill insects. Therefore, whether the Bt protein is "toxic" is not determined by itself, but also depends on the presence of the corresponding receptor. To some extent, the Bt protein is equivalent to half of the "Hu Fu Fu", and the receptor in the animal is the other half of the "Hu Fu Fu". Only two parts can be combined to play a role. For the human body, the receptor does not exist at all. Therefore, Bt protein does not produce "toxicity" in the human body. In fact, the use of bacteria to produce Bt protein as a pesticide sprayed on crops has been used for decades, and is used as a "pollution-free" "green pesticide." Transgenics just let this “green pesticide†production go directly in the plant.
Some people may worry that this "unnatural" protein will not produce other harmful effects in the human body. In fact, you don't have to worry about it. After all the proteins are eaten by humans, they are basically broken down into individual amino acids, and amino acids from different proteins are the same for humans. Only a small fraction of undigested protein fragments (polypeptides) may cause excessive immune reactions in the intestines, resulting in allergies.