有一点疑惑,为什么人会对某些食物过敏?为什么吃有些蘑菇会中毒?是不是有些蛋白质不被破坏成氨基酸也会进入血液循环?
偶的感觉哈,转基因是个非常新的领域,即使是这个专业的顶尖人才,对转基因食品潜在影响的研究和了解也是很有限的,相关的科学家也在不断探索和发现这方面的新知识。
我觉得对于俺们这种非专业领域的人来讲,这个网站的信息是很有用的 (
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/antenna/futurefoods/debate/debateGM_CIPsafety.asp ) 它用清楚明白的语言比较客观公正地介绍了关于转基因的种种争论。如果不带成见地认真阅读,是会有不少收获的。对于我而言,这网站上关于转基因食品与过敏症的介绍,大概算是从科学的角度验证了之前很多人的“感觉”:即北美的过敏症比欧洲和其他地方要多见,而且不乏非常奇怪的过敏症。在这方面转基因食品应该是脱不了干系的。
Can GM food create new allergies?
After peanuts, brazil nuts are the most common trigger of nut allergies in the UK.Image: Jean Marconi Carvalho
Scientists transferring brazil nut genes into a soybean were concerned that people with nut allergies might react badly to the new bean. When they fed the soybeans to mice in 1996, they found the bean would trigger reactions in nut allergy sufferers. They abandoned their work on the soybean.
So, nut allergies can be set off by nut genes. Surprising? Maybe not. But a 2005 study revealed more worrying health effects of GM foods...
Tiny GM peas could create big allergies.Image: Mihai Simonia/iStockphoto
This study showed that even genes that are completely harmless in one plant can cause allergic reactions when transferred to another. Peas with added bean genes triggered reactions in mice, even though the mice weren't allergic to the peas or the beans.
Also, after eating their diet of modified peas, the mice started having allergic reactions to other foods such as egg white, which had not affected them before.
It turned out the mice reacted differently to the gene when it was transferred to peas.