Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
A genetically modified apple that won’t turn brown after its been sliced has been approved by the US Department of Agriculture, reigniting the debate about the safety of GMO foods.
According to Gizmodo, the product is known as the Arctic apple and it is produced by a small Canadian firm known as Okanagan Specialty Fruits. Scientists there have used a technique called RNA interference (RNAi) to block the enzyme that normally causes browning to occur.
The USDA as declared that the Arctic apple carries no risk for other plants, and the company is in the process of undergoing voluntary testing with the FDA to prove that humans can safely consume the fruit. It would still be several years before its trees are able to bear fruit.
Two varieties of the genetically engineered apples have been approved by the USDA, according to The Guardian – Arctic Granny and Arctic Golden. The company claims that they are identical to their traditional counterparts in every way except for the lack of browning, but that hasn’t kept GMO critics and the organic food industry to try and block their eventual release.
“There is no place in the US or global market for genetically engineered apples,” Lisa Archer, director of the environmental group Friends of the Earth, told the Wall Street Journal. “Farmers don’t want to grow it, food companies don’t want to sell it, and consumers don’t want to eat it.”
Likewise, the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), which had petitioned the USDA to deny approval of the apples, said that the RNAi process used to keep them fresh could be harmful to human health. OCA Director Ronnie Cummins told The Guardian that the group planned to call upon food companies and restaurants not to use them, stating that the GMO apples were “just another big experiment on humans for no good reason.”
Would you take a bite of the apple?
“We think there are some possible risks that were not adequately considered,” added Doug Gurian-Sherman, a plant pathologist and senior scientist with the Centre for Food Safety. In a statement, however, Okanagan said that its apples had undergone a “rigorous review” process and were probably “the most tested apples on the planet,” the British newspaper added.
The company’s president, Neal Carter, called the USDA approval “a monumental occasion” and said that it was “the biggest milestone yet” for Okanagan. Carter added that he “can’t wait until they’re available for consumers,” but that is unlikely to happen until at least late 2016, and then only in small quantities. They will not likely be widely distributed for several years.
That delay will give consumers time to “get informed and decide whether they want to purchase them,” Wendy Brannen, a spokeswoman for the US Apple Association, told the WSJ. In a recent Pew Research Center survey, 88 percent of scientists said that they believed that GMO foods were safe to eat. However, only 37 percent of the general public agreed.
Okanagan has stated that it plans to attach a snowflake logo to its Arctic apples in order to distinguish them from other, non-modified varieties. Furthermore, the FDA could require the company to disclose that the fruit has a non-browning trait or has been genetically modified. However, the agency has not yet required a food company to carry a special label, despite calls from consumer groups to pass new laws requiring such a label.
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