To ensure the safety of GM foods they must be tested and assessed carefully for the presence of possible new allergenic proteins. Mandatory labelling of packaged GM foods in Australia will enable individuals to choose where they are concerned that they may have a specific problem of allergy or food intolerance. The chances of GM foods causing toxic effects are expected to be no greater than conventional or regular foods. This is because GM as a technique is designed to make specific, readily identifiable changes to a crop plant or animal, and the effects of these changes are carefully tested. However, it is not easy to prove a negative, and we cannot assert that unexpected deleterious effects are impossible.
Many plant foods contain natural toxins.
Traditionally, these are removed or reduced by plant breeding and food science. They can also be removed using genetic techniques by deleting or switching off the genes responsible for the toxins. There is no evidence to date of any GM food in the marketplace causing toxic effects. GM foods are quite recent in the diet and therefore the long-term health effects of eating GM foods on the population are not known. However, there is no evidence to date of any GM food causing health problems.