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Food Allergy - Basic Mechanisms and Applications to Identifying Risks Associated with Plant Incorporated Pesticides and Other Genetically Modified Crops
Citation:
SELGRADE, M. K. AND S. LAESSIG. Food Allergy - Basic Mechanisms and Applications to Identifying Risks Associated with Plant Incorporated Pesticides and Other Genetically Modified Crops. Presented at 2009 Annual Society of Toxicology (SOT) Meeting, Baltimore, MD, March 15 - 19, 2009.
Impact/Purpose:
This is the promotional abstract for SOT 2009.
Description:
Food allergy is a relatively new concern for toxicologists as a result of the incorporation of novel proteins into food crops in order to promote resistance to pests and other stresses, improve nutrition, or otherwise modify the phenotype. Food allergy can manifest as inflammation of the skin (hives), gut, and/or lung and in the most extreme cases can result in anaphylactic shock and death. Thus, although the technology to modify crops genetically has many advantages over more conventional approaches, there is some concern that introduction of a novel protein into the food supply could result in unintentional introduction of a new food allergen and could pose a risk to susceptible individuals. A number of potential strategies have been proposed to assess this risk, but many questions regarding basic mechanisms underlying food allergy limit our ability to provide the public with information not only about potential allergenicity of transgenic proteins, but also about practices to limit the risks associated with conventional food allergens. The prevalence of food allergy is increasing, providing greater incentive to understand the process and an urgent need for better safety assessment tools. This workshop will highlight current regulatory approaches and recent research that has improved our understanding of host responses such as sensitization and oral tolerance, developed unique animal models of allergy, and applied structural data bases, global gene arrays, and serum screening to both explore mechanisms and develop hazard identification methods. This abstract does not reflect EPA policy.