The antibiotic resistant marker genes found in most genetically engineered food could contribute to the serious and growing problem of antibiotic resistance. Scientists on the British government's advisory committee on Novel Foods and Processes, warn that antibiotic resistant genes that are found in most GE crops jumped species, could transfer their resistance to disease causing bacteria and transform them into potentially untreatable and potentially fatal new strains of disease such as meningitis. Dr John Heritage, a microbiologist who is a member of the committee, says 'it's a huge concern to me. While the risk is small, the consequences of an untreatable, life-threatening infection spreading within the general population are enormous. Another health risk of genetically engineered food is that they could create new allergies in food that was previously assumed to be safe.
Food allergies are hard to predict but can be life threatening.
Virtually every gene transfer in ge crops results in some protein production, so genetic engineering has the potential to bring thousands of new proteins into the food supply whose allergenic status is unknown. Obviously we do not know if we are allergic to scorpions, leeches or genetic material from an African clawed toad because we've never had to eaten it before. We won't find out in pre-market allergenicity testing, because only foods with known allergens, such as Brazil nuts, are required to undergo allergenicity testing. It is the first time that soy has been one of the top ten foods to cause an allergic reaction in consumers. Nobody could guarantee whether or not the soy that caused the increase in allergies was GE free, so we simply don't know if that was the reason for the significant increase in allergies.