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Genetically modified plants and human health
Open accessAbstract
Summary Genetically modified (or GM) plants have attracted a large amount of media attention in recent years and continue to do so. Despite this, the general public remains largely unaware of what a GM plant actually is or what advantages and disadvantages the technology has to offer, particularly with regard to the range of applications for which they can be used. From the first generation of GM crops, two main areas of concern have emerged, namely risk to the environment and risk to human health. As GM plants are gradually being introduced into the European Union there is likely to be increasing public concern regarding potential health issues. Although it is now commonplace for the press to adopt ‘health campaigns’, the information they publish is often unreliable and unrepresentative of the available scientific evidence. We consider it important that the medical profession should be aware of the state of the art, and, as they are often the first port of call for a concerned patient, be in a position to provide an informed opinion. This review will examine how GM plants may impact on human health both directly – through applications targeted at nutrition and enhancement of recombinant medicine production – but also indirectly, through potential effects on the environment. Finally, it will examine the most important opposition currently facing the worldwide adoption of this technology: public opinion.
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“Several groups reviewing the evidence for health hazards of genetic modification have found no evidence for harms;130-134 however, methods for such evaluation remain heterogeneous.135-139”
From Dietary and Policy Priorities for Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, and Obesity: A Comprehensive Review (2016) · cites this paper as [131]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Key, S., Ma, J. K.-C., & Drake, P. M.
- Affiliations
- St George's, University of London (GB)
- Molecular Immunology Unit, Centre for Infection, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, St George's University of LondonCranmer Terrace, London SW17 0RE, UK
- ORCID
- Drake, Pascal MW
- Venue
- Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2008-06-01
- Volume
- 101
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 290-298
- ISSN
- 0141-0768 (ISSN-L)
- 1758-1095
- PMC
- PMC2408621
- OpenAlex
- W2101878382
- Cited by
- 197
- References
- 70
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 10
- FWCI
- 0.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Genetically Modified Organisms Research
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Risk Perception and Management
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Biotechnology › Transgenic Plants and Applications
- Keywords
- transgenic plants, genetically modified crops, human health, environmental risk, public perception, media coverage, nutrition, public opinion, medical profession
- MeSH terms
- Diet, Food Contamination, Humans, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Public Health, Public Opinion, Food, Genetically Modified
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