Evaluation of GMOs safety.

The mention of the acronym GMO immediately sparks interest and triggers often conflicting discussions. However, do our fellow citizens know what lies behind these three letters—what genetically modified organisms are, which types of GMOs are now more than just laboratory curiosities, how they are used, and what their possible and likely future developments might be? Finally, do GMOs—and in particular genetically modified plants used as food sources—pose health risks? These are some of the questions this article aims to answer.

Enzymes derived from genetically modified microorganisms (GMMs) have been used for over fifteen years in the production of many fermented food products, such as baked goods made from grains, beer, and cheese—that is, fermented products. Although these enzymes are subject to safety assessments (France is one of the few countries with regulations governing food enzymes), the public has not expressed any negative reactions to their use. One might imagine that this is due to a lack of awareness and also, and perhaps above all, because the GMOs from which the enzymes are derived are not released into the environment.

Genetically modified animals are currently used only for research purposes and have not yet sparked any significant controversy, whereas the consumption of products derived from cloned animals is beginning to be challenged by consumer groups in the United States.

The current public debate focuses primarily on genetically modified organisms (GMOs)—whether they are food products, food sources, or sources of molecules of pharmaceutical or industrial interest. Given the global significance of the development of GMOs used as food or food sources, as well as the unique nature of assessing their safety for human or animal consumption, I will limit my discussion to GMOs.

In 2007, GM crops were grown on more than 114 million hectares worldwide (see Figure ): 101 million hectares in the Americas, approximately 6 million hectares in India, and 4 million hectares in China, with very little in Europe (less than 300,000 hectares, including 100,000 hectares in Spain and Romania and approximately 22,000 hectares in France). Globally, the crops involved are primarily soybeans (51% of cultivated areas), followed by corn (31%), cotton (13%), and rapeseed (5%). In 2007, these GMOs were thus field crops grown in major agricultural nations.

These applications are, in fact, well aligned with the objectives of these countries: herbicide tolerance for 63% of cultivated land and insect resistance—primarily to lepidoptera—for 18%. Both traits were introduced simultaneously into GM crops grown on 19% of the land  .

It is clear,...