Safety of food and feed from genetically modified source

For genetically modified animals, the different toxicity tests are basically similar to those applied to genetically modified plants. Animals differ from plants on several specific points. Plants often contain toxins which in practice are natural pesticides. Plants are generally not sensitive to their own toxins. The plants retained by humans to be used as food have been chosen and selected by our ancestors in such a way as to raise no health problems for consumers. Animals used for food are considered to contain no substances which are essentially toxic for human consumers. Genetically modified animals are essentially vertebrates, and even mammals, which are biologically close to humans. Genetically modified animals are therefore also excellent experimental animals for detecting toxic substances. Indeed, any toxic compound present in genetically modified animals and not in controls would have visible deleterious effects on the animals, which in turn would be discarded and not included in the food chain.

# Global Bioethics