[Application of ICP-MS to the detection of heavy metals in transgenic corn]

With the rapid development of the transgenic food, more and more transgenic food has been pouring into the market attracting much attention to the transgenic food's edible safety. Transgenic corns and its parents were studied by ICP-MS to detect the heavy metals. The results showed that the transgenic corn accumulated less heavy metals (Ni, Cu, Cd, As, Cr, Zn and Hg) than their own parents; and the contents of some heavy metals (V, Co and Pb) in transgenic corns were similar to their parents. All the data showed that the insertion of foreign gene (Bt) might change the absorbing dynamics of most heavy metals, especially some important heavy metals, which are disadvantageous to human health. The present paper indicated that the change in heavy metals absorption could harm the edible safety of transgenic plant. The cause of this change should be studied further.