According to media headlines, the UK government has declared gene-edited tomatoes could be in our supermarkets in 2023.
Showing posts with label tomatoes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tomatoes. Show all posts
Gene-edited tomatoes
July 2022
According to media headlines, the UK government has declared gene-edited tomatoes could be in our supermarkets in 2023.
According to media headlines, the UK government has declared gene-edited tomatoes could be in our supermarkets in 2023.
'Stress busting' tomatoes
January 2022
In 2021, a Japanese university start-up company, Sanatech Seed, launched the world's first direct consumption genome-edited tomato with "enhanced nutritional benefits".
The novel product was carefully chosen to minimise consumer suspicion: a popular strain of tomato was used and a nutrient that people are "already used to buying in other products" which have naturally high levels.
Sanatech Seed's president explained "This tomato represents an easy and realistic way in which consumers can improve their daily diet" ... "we felt it was important to introduce (consumers) to the technology in a way that was already familiar to them".
This cosily familiar nutrient which Sanatech Seed wants you to want more of is γ-aminobutyric acid (a.k.a. 'GABA').
If you don't recall ever putting GABA on your shopping list, that's because the "other products" referred to are things like cabbage, broccoli, spinach, soya, mushroom and peas.
In 2021, a Japanese university start-up company, Sanatech Seed, launched the world's first direct consumption genome-edited tomato with "enhanced nutritional benefits".
The novel product was carefully chosen to minimise consumer suspicion: a popular strain of tomato was used and a nutrient that people are "already used to buying in other products" which have naturally high levels.
Sanatech Seed's president explained "This tomato represents an easy and realistic way in which consumers can improve their daily diet" ... "we felt it was important to introduce (consumers) to the technology in a way that was already familiar to them".
This cosily familiar nutrient which Sanatech Seed wants you to want more of is γ-aminobutyric acid (a.k.a. 'GABA').
If you don't recall ever putting GABA on your shopping list, that's because the "other products" referred to are things like cabbage, broccoli, spinach, soya, mushroom and peas.
GM toy tomatoes
January 2022
Genetic engineers have always liked playing with tomatoes.
The first GM food to hit US supermarket shelves was a tomato with a gene for ripening switched off [1]. This was Calgene's Flavr Savr tomato designed by science to last longer on the vine (it did), to be easier to handle during distribution (it wasn't), to taste better (it was pronounced 'mediocre') and to sell at a premium (it didn't). The Flavr Savr tomato's main claim to fame was its inappropriate (some would say absurd) use as a model GMO to set US regulations for all subsequent GM foods. Launched in 1994, the disappointing Flavr Savr finally sank into oblivion three years later.
The first GM food to hit UK supermarket shelves was Zeneca's cheap tinned Californian tomato puree made from GM tomatoes designed for lower processing costs due to their engineered reduced water content. These sank into oblivion in 1999 after two successful years and one disastrous year when consumer awareness caught up with the meaning of its "genetically modified" label.
Fast forward to 2008 when the media went wild reporting preliminary results of a GM 'anti-cancer' tomato produced by GM crop research scientists at the UK's John Innes Centre (JIC). These novel purple-fleshed, high-antioxidant ('anthocyanine') tomatoes were going to "save your life" (Martin).
Hopefully, no one held their breath waiting for their life to be saved by a tomato, because they'd still be waiting.
Genetic engineers have always liked playing with tomatoes.
The first GM food to hit US supermarket shelves was a tomato with a gene for ripening switched off [1]. This was Calgene's Flavr Savr tomato designed by science to last longer on the vine (it did), to be easier to handle during distribution (it wasn't), to taste better (it was pronounced 'mediocre') and to sell at a premium (it didn't). The Flavr Savr tomato's main claim to fame was its inappropriate (some would say absurd) use as a model GMO to set US regulations for all subsequent GM foods. Launched in 1994, the disappointing Flavr Savr finally sank into oblivion three years later.
The first GM food to hit UK supermarket shelves was Zeneca's cheap tinned Californian tomato puree made from GM tomatoes designed for lower processing costs due to their engineered reduced water content. These sank into oblivion in 1999 after two successful years and one disastrous year when consumer awareness caught up with the meaning of its "genetically modified" label.
Fast forward to 2008 when the media went wild reporting preliminary results of a GM 'anti-cancer' tomato produced by GM crop research scientists at the UK's John Innes Centre (JIC). These novel purple-fleshed, high-antioxidant ('anthocyanine') tomatoes were going to "save your life" (Martin).
Hopefully, no one held their breath waiting for their life to be saved by a tomato, because they'd still be waiting.
Deliciously pink fish
January 2019
British scientists seem to be heavily into improving farmed fish these days. They might have preferred to feed us GM fish (the patents would be worth a bob or two), but Frankenfish aren't going to feature on consumers' wish-list any time soon so they're settling for GM fish food additives instead [1].
The 'problem' the latest GM venture is trying to solve is that fish in the wild eat all sorts of different things which can end up in, and colour, their flesh all manner of pinks and oranges. Farmed fish have a very boring and unnatural diet, and end up fish-coloured, that is white or pale grey.
British scientists seem to be heavily into improving farmed fish these days. They might have preferred to feed us GM fish (the patents would be worth a bob or two), but Frankenfish aren't going to feature on consumers' wish-list any time soon so they're settling for GM fish food additives instead [1].
The 'problem' the latest GM venture is trying to solve is that fish in the wild eat all sorts of different things which can end up in, and colour, their flesh all manner of pinks and oranges. Farmed fish have a very boring and unnatural diet, and end up fish-coloured, that is white or pale grey.
A brief history of GM potatoes
December 2018
After the damp-squib of the earliest attempt to market a GM vegetable, the 'Flav Savr' tomato, all the signs were that the humble potato was going to be the real cheerleader for fresh, recognisable biotech food.
After the damp-squib of the earliest attempt to market a GM vegetable, the 'Flav Savr' tomato, all the signs were that the humble potato was going to be the real cheerleader for fresh, recognisable biotech food.
Patents on every bite
November 2015
The GM mindset which has successfully manipulated
common-sense to allow living organisms to be 'invented' has been expanded to
allow something even more unholy.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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| Photo Creative Commons |
Swiss biotech giant, Syngenta, has been granted a patent on
some novel tomatoes, including the plants themselves, their seeds and their
fruit.
The novelty value of these tomatoes is their particularly
high levels of 'flavonols' which are micronutrients recognised as being
healthful for the heart besides having anti-oxidant, anti-cancer, anti-viral,
anti-allergic, and anti-inflammatory
properties.
Despite the patent, the tomatoes are not GM, but have been
'invented' by crossing flavonol-rich wild tomatoes with domestic
varieties. Extensive (expensive) genetic
science was, of course, employed to find the appropriate wild strains and to
guide the breeding process, but why the fancy tomatoes should command more than
old-fashioned breeders' rights isn't clear.
Moreover, European patent law prohibits patents on plant
varieties and on methods of classical breeding.
Watchdog organisation, No Patent on Seeds, has pointed out
that the European Patent Office (EPO) exists to promote innovation in business,
and is controlled only by a single Administrative Council. EPO revenue is increased by granting patents.
There seems to be little or no incentive to refuse a patent.
For the European public, this patent on conventional
tomatoes opens the door to ownership of all our food by big
corporations: all they need to do is find a gene in a wild relative to
'enhance' your food with.
Back in 2012, the European Parliament demanded the EPO stop
granting such patents on conventionally-bred plants. If the Parliament is
powerless, we need networking amongst governments to put a stop any more such
patents.
Safeguard your future food: demand a STOP to
patents on life.
SOURCES
- Yao LH, et al., 2004, Flavonoids in food and their health benefits, Plant Foods and Human Nutrition 59(3)
- Sally Robertson, What are Flavonoids? www.news-medical.net
- New patent granted on tomatoes derived from classical breeding, No Patents on Seeds, 25.08.15
What use is purple GM juice?
March 2014
Commentary
Anthocyanins are anti-oxidant plant
pigments credited with wide-ranging therapeutic effects.
Support for the well-accepted role of
anthocyanins in folk medicine the world over has since been confirmed by
epidemiology and, more recently, by an increasing body of science.
Many research trials have demonstrated
anthocyanins' marked ability to inhibit tumour formation and cancer-cell
proliferation. Protection from
cardio-vascular disease and age-related neuro-degenerative disorders have been
clearly shown in scientific studies.
Enter 'genetically-improved' tomatoes,
turned purple by their newly acquired ability to generate anthocyanins and
thereby re-jigged to make everyone healthy.
Red not purple
March 2014
Although tomatoes have naturally high
levels of many nutrients with health benefits, adding in a further class of
anti-oxidants not naturally present has been a holy grail of genetic engineers
since the 1990s.
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| Red vine tomato. CC image by Mrs Gemstone on Flickr |
Such genetically-improved tomatoes would,
it is hoped, conveniently piggy-back the already high consumption of tomatoes
in the modern diet, and make up for the failure of the official '5-a-day for
health' message.
The anti-oxidants of interest are
'anthocyanins', which are the dark pigment in the skin of many fruits and
vegetables, such as blueberries and aubergines.
Science has indicated that:
“intake (of anthocyanins) in the human diet is associated with protection against coronary heart disease and an improvement in sight. They might also prevent cholesterol-induced atherosclerosis, could have anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic activities and could aid the the prevention of obesity and diabetes” (Gonzali).
“intake (of anthocyanins) in the human diet is associated with protection against coronary heart disease and an improvement in sight. They might also prevent cholesterol-induced atherosclerosis, could have anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic activities and could aid the the prevention of obesity and diabetes” (Gonzali).
The health benefits described above have
emerged from studies using black-currants, blueberries, tart cherries,
elderberries, grape juice and seed, purple corn, purple sweet potato, red
soyabeans, red beans and red wine.
The New Year GM pep talk
February 2014
No New Year would be complete without a GM
pep-talk from our Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson, at the influential
annual Oxford Farming Conference [1].
As before, Paterson's seven paragraphs on
GM buried in a sixty-paragraph speech became a major headline in a major
national newspaper. This seems to have
been assisted by a particularly histrionic sound-byte suggesting that
“Europe risks becoming the Museum of
World Farming as innovative companies make decisions to invest and develop new
technologies in other markets”.
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