According to media headlines, the UK government has declared gene-edited tomatoes could be in our supermarkets in 2023.
The novel tomatoes it has in mind could include GABA tomatoes from Japan [1] and, very likely, vitamin D-generating tomatoes which are being developed by the UK's John Innes Centre (JIC) with international collaboration. The JIC tomatoes have been edited to disable a gene whose absence results in the abnormal accumulation of pro-vitamin D3 in the fruit. When exposed to UV light, such as sunlight, the pro-vitamin D3 is converted to vitamin D.
Vitamin D is essential to our immune system, bone structure and nerve integrity, and chronic shortage of vitamin D is recognised as a major health concern. Dietary sources of vitamin D come from animal produce, such as eggs and tuna fish, so there can be a deficiency when the diet is poor. Humans can also generate vitamin D on exposure to sunlight, but this is often insufficient, especially in northern latitudes where sunlight is limiting.
There's no possibility that the UK gene-edited tomatoes are 'natural' [2]: plants are a very poor source of vitamin D; tomato leaves do contain some pro-vitamin D3 but, in the fruit, a different biochemical pathway is present which generates different end-products (possibly ones needed by the tomato as it ripens?).
The gene-edited tomatoes seem to be aimed at vegans and vegetarians who don't eat foods naturally high in vitamin D, and avoid supplements because most vitamin D pills are manufactured from lanolin (wool fat).
There is, potentially, added value in these novel tomatoes because vegan vitamin D supplements might be extracted from the leaves.
The downside, from a commercial point of view, is that the gene-edited tomatoes will be expensive. Apart from the likely premium for development costs, they'll need UV lights to generate the required maximum levels of vitamin D, the added value from vitamin D pill production which would make them cheaper might never be practical, the vegan niche-market might not, on its own, be enough to justify their existence, and other consumers just might not want to buy them.
The British Tomato Growers' Association is less than enthusiastic. It warned that there has been a lack of consultation with the food sector on these government plans, leading to "a disconnect between the scientists, who are doing the research in their labs, and the growers, retailers and consumers". The Association points out that there are still many opportunities to look at natural processes in tomato production to boost nutritional values, and that many growers are already doing this, especially when it comes to using light. These natural explorations could potentially deliver far more benefits than any chemical intervention for human health (even if the 'chemical' is packaged in a tomato).
For your own and your family's protection, suggest to your government representative that it's high time there was some public consultation on gene-edited foods, plus, as a minimum, some basic human safety and efficacy tests should be made mandatory before any GM (including gene-edited) foods are allowed onto the market.
Background
[1] STRESS-BUSTING TOMATOES - January 2022
[2] 'NATURAL' GENE EDITING JUST DOESN'T HAPPEN - July 2022
SOURCES:
Vitamin D is essential to our immune system, bone structure and nerve integrity, and chronic shortage of vitamin D is recognised as a major health concern. Dietary sources of vitamin D come from animal produce, such as eggs and tuna fish, so there can be a deficiency when the diet is poor. Humans can also generate vitamin D on exposure to sunlight, but this is often insufficient, especially in northern latitudes where sunlight is limiting.
There's no possibility that the UK gene-edited tomatoes are 'natural' [2]: plants are a very poor source of vitamin D; tomato leaves do contain some pro-vitamin D3 but, in the fruit, a different biochemical pathway is present which generates different end-products (possibly ones needed by the tomato as it ripens?).
The gene-edited tomatoes seem to be aimed at vegans and vegetarians who don't eat foods naturally high in vitamin D, and avoid supplements because most vitamin D pills are manufactured from lanolin (wool fat).
There is, potentially, added value in these novel tomatoes because vegan vitamin D supplements might be extracted from the leaves.
The downside, from a commercial point of view, is that the gene-edited tomatoes will be expensive. Apart from the likely premium for development costs, they'll need UV lights to generate the required maximum levels of vitamin D, the added value from vitamin D pill production which would make them cheaper might never be practical, the vegan niche-market might not, on its own, be enough to justify their existence, and other consumers just might not want to buy them.
The British Tomato Growers' Association is less than enthusiastic. It warned that there has been a lack of consultation with the food sector on these government plans, leading to "a disconnect between the scientists, who are doing the research in their labs, and the growers, retailers and consumers". The Association points out that there are still many opportunities to look at natural processes in tomato production to boost nutritional values, and that many growers are already doing this, especially when it comes to using light. These natural explorations could potentially deliver far more benefits than any chemical intervention for human health (even if the 'chemical' is packaged in a tomato).
OUR COMMENT
The JIC has worked out that eating two gene-edited tomatoes a day would address typical vitamin D deficiencies, but no one is suggesting any need for clinical trials to see if the artificial vitamin D in these tomatoes does in fact translate into improved human nutrition, or to make sure the tomatoes haven't acquired any unusual toxins (tomatoes are members of the nightshade family) and aren't causing increased tomato intolerance (it's not unusual for people to avoid tomatoes due to unpleasant and severe digestive, skin and inflammatory reactions).For your own and your family's protection, suggest to your government representative that it's high time there was some public consultation on gene-edited foods, plus, as a minimum, some basic human safety and efficacy tests should be made mandatory before any GM (including gene-edited) foods are allowed onto the market.
Background
[1] STRESS-BUSTING TOMATOES - January 2022
[2] 'NATURAL' GENE EDITING JUST DOESN'T HAPPEN - July 2022
SOURCES:
·
Jie Li, et al., May 2022 , Biofortified
tomatoes provide a new route to vitamin D sufficiency, Nature Plants
·
Adam Vaughan, Gene-edited tomato offers new
plant-based source of vitamin D, New Scientist 28.05.22
·
Grace Duncan, Fresh produce industry urges
government caution following gene editing announcement, The Grocer,
26.05.22
· Richard Vaughan, Genetically-edited tomatoes may be in supermarkets from next year, i, 21.05.22
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