Misleading Claims About GM Food Trigger Worry in Indonesia

Claims circulating online in Indonesia that genetically modified (GM) foods can alter human genes or cause serious changes to people’s physical and mental characteristics are not supported by scientific evidence, experts say.

The misinformation has spread across social media in recent days, with posts warning Indonesians against consuming GM products and alleging that they could interfere with human hormones, genetics, intelligence and natural development.

One Indonesian-language Facebook post published on September 5, 2026, carried the warning: “GMO is very dangerous.”

An accompanying graphic alleged that GM foods could “damage human genetics and natural disposition” while also affecting hormones and reducing physical, mental and intellectual abilities.

Another post shared on Facebook the following day connected genetically modified products to an alleged “depopulation” agenda. The claim is part of a longstanding conspiracy theory that has repeatedly been debunked.

Similar messages have appeared on Facebook and Instagram, prompting concern among some Indonesian social media users.

However, scientists who spoke to AFP said there is no evidence that consuming approved GM foods causes foreign genetic material to become incorporated into the human genome.

Paul Teng Piang-Siong, a senior fellow specialising in food security at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, said the genetic material found in GM foods is processed by the digestive system like other DNA and proteins consumed through food.

“A GMO contains foreign DNA, which like all DNA and protein, is digested in human stomachs and becomes nutrients for the body,” Teng told AFP on September 16.

He noted that people consume DNA regularly through ordinary foods and said there is no mechanism by which the resulting nutrients would simply alter the genetic material inherited by humans from their parents.

Eko Hari Purnomo, a professor at Bogor Agricultural University’s Faculty of Engineering and Technology, explained that some fragments of DNA can survive the digestive process. However, that does not mean they can become part of human DNA.

For such a change to occur, he said, genetic material from food would have to survive digestion, enter human cells, reach the nucleus and become incorporated into the genome before remaining functional.

“There is no evidence that eating approved GMO foods causes such genomic integration in humans,” Purnomo told AFP on September 17.

The World Health Organization has acknowledged that scientists have considered the possibility of gene transfer from GM foods, particularly in circumstances where transferred genetic material could potentially affect health. However, the WHO says the likelihood of such gene transfer is low.

It also states that GM products currently sold internationally have undergone safety assessments by national regulatory authorities.

In Indonesia, genetically modified foods are subject to oversight by the country’s Food and Drug Monitoring Agency. Products must undergo assessments covering safety, nutritional composition and other relevant factors before receiving approval for sale.

Purnomo said there is currently no evidence that GM foods which have completed the required safety evaluations and received regulatory approval present a greater health risk than comparable conventional foods.

Genetically engineered foods have been commercially available since the 1990s, and researchers have continued to study their potential health effects.

Wendy Hunt, Academic Chair of Food Science and Nutrition at Australia’s Murdoch University, told AFP that no harm to humans has been established from the consumption of approved genetically engineered foods.

She also provided AFP with a 2026 review of scientific evidence that found no causal relationship between consuming GM foods and allergies, toxicity or diseases including cancer.

Colin Barrow, chair of biotechnology at Australia’s Deakin University, said GM ingredients are already consumed extensively around the world. He cited canola oil as one example.

Barrow attributed some of the public concern surrounding GM foods to limited public understanding of biotechnology and persistent mistrust.

The scientific evidence cited by the experts therefore does not support claims that eating approved GM foods changes human genes or forms part of a programme to reduce the world’s population.