WASHINGTON, D.C. — Fighting GMO labeling initiatives on a state-by-state basis is unsustainable, but Cathleen Enright believes consumer-facing, genetically engineered fruits and vegetables could help the technology find popular acceptance.
Speaking at a Sept. 9 United Fresh Produce Association Washington Conference workshop called “The GMO Debate and Impact on Fruits and Vegetables,” Enright, executive director of the Council for Biotechnology Information, urged fruit and vegetable marketers to join the conversation with consumers about food production.
Enright, reviewing the well-accepted use of biotechnology in the health care industry in production of insulin, human growth hormones and other personalized medicines, said anti-GMO forces have focused their energies on food.
Consumers’ relationship with food is different, Enright said, and GMO opponents have “easy pickings” in promoting alarming but false images of food being injected or being combined with genes from animals.
Contrary to images on the web, there is no banana fish or frog apple, Enright said.
Biotechnology is simply employing breeding technology that is more precise and predictable than traditional selective breeding, she said. The U.S. also has extensive plantings of biotech corn and soybeans, crops that have been fed without problem to billions of animals for more than a decade. Canola and cotton biotech varieties also are widely grown.
Among fruits and vegetables, virus-resistant papayas and squash also are in the market, and insect-resistant Bt sweet corn is marketed by Monsanto.
Biotech crop production has resulted in fewer herbicide and insecticide applications, higher output and less energy and labor use, Enright said.
With the Innate potato and the Arctic apple expected to be deregulated soon, Enright said those varieties represent the first two consumer-facing crops that have come to the market.
The Innate potato is less susceptible to black spot from bruising caused by impact and pressure during harvest and storage than conventional potatoes and has lower levels of asparagine and sugars, according to developers at J.R. Simplot.
The Arctic apple is a non-browning apple developed by British Columbia-based Okanagan Specialty Fruits, Inc. that promises consumers more eye appeal and less waste.
The introduction of those varieties will be game changers in a positive way in terms of the technology, Enright said.
She said the John Innes Centre in Norwich, England, has developed genetically engineered purple tomatoes that offer high antioxidant levels. Enright said those tomatoes could be approved in North America within a few years.
Click here to read Potato Grower’s recent article on Simplot’s Innate potatoes.
Source: The Grower