EXPRESS METHOD FOR DETERMINING SAFETY OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED PRODUCTS BY BIOTESTING

摘要

The invention is related to veterinary medicine, in particular, to veterinary-sanitary examination for determining safety of genetically modified products by a biotesting method, and can be used for safety assessment of genetically modified products (both of vegetable and animal origin) in food safety and veterinary sanitary examination laboratories. The objective of the present invention is determining safety of GM products that do not contain any technogenic or biogenic contaminants by using infusoria Paramecium caudatum as test objects with addition of a GM product sample as feed, followed by observation, by means of a microscope, the infusoria quantity, morphological changes, agility, survivability with assessment of remote consequences, i.e., reproductive functions, for 5-10 or more generations of infusoria during a relatively short period, from 15 days to 6 months. Safety assessment of GM products: in case of the absence of visible morphological changes and conservation of the population of biotest objects, the GM product is considered as safe; in case of changes in shape or size, low mobility, inability to reproduce or death of infusoria, the GM product is considered as unsafe. Utilization of the developed express method for determining safety of GM products by biotesting allows the experts in food safety laboratories to perform accelerated studies of GM products and to make preliminary assessment of their remote effects on infusoria that feed on the products under testing, without using any analytical equipment.