The company responsible for creating a genetically engineered potato has taken issue with comments made by Earth Action P.E.I. in a recent article in the Charlottetown Guardian.
Earth Action leader Sharon Labchuk said in that article that genetically modified products are unsafe. But Doug Cole, director of marketing and communications at the J.R. Simplot Company, the Idaho-based company that developed the potatoes, named Innate, disagrees.
“There are no studies from credible peer-reviewed science organizations anywhere in the world that show that genetically engineered foods are unsafe as compared to their conventional counterparts,” he said in an email to The Guardian. “In fact, Innate Generation 1 potatoes reduce acrylamide, a probable carcinogen, by up to 70 percent when potatoes are cooked at high temperatures by consumers, so you can actually say they are safer than conventional potatoes.”
Cole also said Labchuk’s objection to Innate seed being corporate-controlled was unfounded. Simplot sells to independent growers the same way conventional seeds are sold. He went on to say this also leaves growers free to use Innate seed however they wish; if they don’t want to use pesticides, they don’t have to.
Source: Fresh Plaza