Health risks of genetically modified foods

Substantial equivalence of antinutrients and inherent plant toxins in genetically modified novel foods

For a safety evaluation of foodstuff derived from genetically modified crops, the concept of the substantial equivalence of modified organisms with their parental lines is used following an environmental safety evaluation. To assess the potential pleiotropic effect of genetic modifications on constituents of modified crops data from US and EC documents were investigated with regard to inherent plant toxins and antinutrients. Analysed were documents of rape (glucosinolates, phytate), maize (phytate), tomato (tomatine, solanine, chaconine, lectins, oxalate), potato (solanine, chaconine, protease-inhibitors, phenols) and soybean (protease-inhibitors, lectins, isoflavones, phytate). In several documents used for notifications no declarations even on essential inherent plant toxins and antinutrients could be found, for instance data on phytate in modified maize were provided only in one of four documents. Significant variations in the contents of these compounds in parental and modified plants especially due to environmental influences were observed: drought stress, for example, was made responsible for significantly increased glucosinolate levels of up to 72.6micromol/g meal in modified and parental rape plants in field trials compared to recommended standard concentrations of less than 30micromol/g. Taking into account these wide natural variations generally the concentrations of inherent plant toxins and antinutrients in modified products were in the range of the concentrations in parental organisms. The results presented indicate that the concept of the substantial equivalence is useful for the risk assessment of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) used for novel foods but possible environmental influences on constituents of modified crops need more attention. Consistent guidelines, specifying data of relevant compounds which have to be provided for notification documents of specific organisms have to be established. Because of the importance of inherent plant toxins and antinutrients on nutritional safety, also coherent databases of standard parental lines and clear criteria for mandatory declarations are necessary.