What Does toxicity Mean
Toxicity is called the degree of effectiveness of substances that, due to their composition, are considered toxic . It is a measure used to identify the toxic level of various fluids or elements, both affecting an organism as a whole (for example, the human body ) and on a substructure (a cell ).
The specialty dedicated to analyzing and observing poisons is toxicology . It is common for this branch to classify toxic entities into 3: chemical substances (which can be organic, such as the poison that some snakes possess, or inorganic, such as heavy metals), physical entities (such as X-rays) and biological toxicity (caused by viruses or bacteria ).
The toxicity of something depends on multiple factors, such as the time of exposure to the substance in question, the number of times it has been exposed and the route of ingestion or administration. We speak of acute exposure when a single contact can cause severe damage, while chronic exposure is one that involves a toxin affecting it for a long time.
Handling highly toxic substances poses a risk to health and the environment. That is why there are various safety protocols that protect workers in contact with these substances and that preserve life. In Europe , there is REACH, as the system for the registration, evaluation, authorization and restriction of chemical substances is known, which seeks to publicize the danger of toxic fluids, protect people from dangerous compounds and promote innovation for the development of safer substances.
The governments usually implemented regulations to limit the circulation and use of dangerous substances, in addition to supervisions and inspections at workplaces.
The toxicity of GMOs
GMO foods are products that have been made with an ingredient extracted from a gene from another species; This work can be carried out thanks to the discoveries of biotechnology and its objective is to provide the final product with a characteristic that it does not have. For example, in the case of transgenic plants, the modification can prepare them to more firmly resist pests or any other complication that could threaten their life.
While many people rely on technological advances and consider that the use of these modified products can be very useful to undermine hunger in the world; Scientific research reveals that behind its advantages are hundreds of complications that threaten ecology and health.
Without going any further, recent research in France revealed that those rats that were fed with transgenic corn presented the appearance of cancerous tumors and a shorter life expectancy. This would indicate that the ingestion of these products could have severe long-term consequences on the health of the species; Not to mention the irreparable damage to the environment , in terms of reducing diversity and other obvious consequences.
The toxicity that transgenic products harbor can be quite high if one takes into account that when sowing a seed that has been manipulated in the laboratory, it will act on the soil in a different way than one that has not undergone this process would; it will modify not only the characteristics of the soil, but also the space, since by becoming stronger than other plants, it could threaten the existence of other species .
If one takes into account that later it would also bring severe damage to those who consumed its harvest, it becomes clear that betting on this type of production is disastrous for the subsistence of our planet.