Genetic Modification and Food Safety: Views of the World Health Organization

Abstract

For many years, most countries have required the assessment of risks related to food additives, pesticide residues and other contaminants; however, new foods have not been required to undergo a formal pre-marketing risk assessment and the responsibility has been on those introducing new foods to ensure that they are safe. In particular, new strains and varieties of food organisms developed using classical selection and breeding techniques have come onto the market without a formal safety evaluation except, in some instances, for screening for natural toxin levels when the source is known to be associated with such toxins. With very few exceptions, the introduction of new foods, or of new varieties of old foods, has been achieved without serious food safety problems.