You have probably seen it on Facebook; a scary graphic which worries that GMOs can be detected in our blood.
We certainly hope so. Without the ability to detect cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in plasma or cells we couldn't have non-invasive prenatal testing. Our blood also contains foreign DNA, like from viruses and bacteria. At least eight percent of the human genome is composed of endogenous retroviruses- leftovers from retroviral infections which our ancestors had millions of years ago. In fact, it is quite common for animals and humans to acquire foreign genes from microbes, and some of these genes are essential.
And yes we have DNA from the cells of food we've consumed.
So if you have eaten any time recently, food can be detected. If you have not eaten, you are dead - but some people think that is better than eating GMOs.
So, the anti-science activists are wrong, but you know that or you wouldn't be reading the American Council on Science and Health; you would read Joe Mercola or SourceWatch or watch The Dr. Oz Show.
They are not wrong about being able to detect GMOs, they are just wrong for thinking that it is a concern. The reason one should not worry is because we can detect a lot of things; we can detect a target molecule in 10,000 trillion water molecules (that's like a molecule of a pesticide in 30 square acres of land or the presence of something for 1 second in 360,000 years), even more easily than we can detect Michael Pollan not knowing what he is talking about when it comes to food, and the entire audience at University of California Berkeley not realizing he is clueless:
So we can certainly detect GMOs in blood.
Anti-science activists did not come up with that, they don't do any science. GMO scientists did. Writing on her Frankenfood Facts blog, molecular biologist Layla Katiraee notes that in the thousands of human genomes that have been sequenced to date, DNA from our food has never been shown to be integrated into cellular DNA. Horizontal gene transfer is instead done by a virus or other microorganism.
That is why a 100% Organic Certified sweet potato is a "natural GMO" - it is transgenic, just like Bt corn.
Claiming that we eat GMOs, and our food being detected in our cfDNA is a problem, is like worrying that if I ate Sugar Frosted Chocolate Bombs for breakfast and it can be detected later (it can!), then I will gradually turn into cereal.
