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Published on December 5, 2007

"So far we do not have enough information to confirm that eating GM food could not cause severe symptoms in humans. We need more research," Dr David Hill, a senior consultant allergist at the Royal Children's Hospital in Australia, told the 2007 World Allergy Congress press conference in Bangkok.

To prevent unexpected symptoms of food allergies, people should undergo a lab test before consuming GM food products because some of the proteins could trigger a severe attack, he said.

People sensitive to food respond differently, he said. Some of the first signs of an allergic reaction include runny nose, itchy skin, tingling in the tongue or throat, swelling of the throat or other parts of the body, abdominal pain, eczema, dizziness, diarrhoea and vomiting, he said.

Dr Orapan Poachanukoon, a Thammasat University Hospital researcher, said no study on the link between allergies and GM food has been conducted yet in Thailand. More research was needed to answer the grey question of possible side effects on humans from eating GM food, she said.

Her study of patients admitted to the Thammasat hospital over the past two years found 64 suffered severe allergic symptoms. with one dying. About 60 per cent had problems with certain foods. Eggs, milk and seafood caused most of the cases.

If victims of a severe food allergy attack could not be sent to a hospital within five minutes it would be dangerous for them, she said.

The study showed that food allergies would grow more prevalent in the future along with the developments in transgenic agriculture and changes in the environment.

Pongphon Sarnsamak

The Nation