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Hold up, frankenfish. While the USDA is still hung up on whether to approve genetically modified salmon, it appears there's a new mutant on the table: a genetically modified apple that won't brown.
Designed by British Columbia-based Okanagan Specialty Fruits, the new "Arctic" apple -- or what critics are calling the "botox apple," reports Gawker -- is said to have "silencing" enzymes, which would prevent it from looking old, no matter how old it gets. While this may be arguably okay for foreheads, we take it most people would rather know when their food is past its prime. Just like waxing fruit and piping nitrogen into fish to make it look younger, preventing fruit to brown would no longer allow us to know when it's gone bad.
According to the Associated Press, the company "licensed the non-browning technology from Australian researchers who pioneered it in potatoes." Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety, tells the AP that this technology "appears to benefit apple growers and shippers more than consumers." He's predicting failure.
The president of Okanagan Specialty Fruits, Neal Carter, happens to agree: "Some people won't like it just because of what it is." Yep, seems reason enough, we think. But, he adds, "people will see the process used to get it had very sound science." Excuse us, Mr. Carter, but so did the atomic bomb.
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11-29-2010 @1:48PM davvik said... I sounds like they just cut out the enzyme that makes an apple rot/ brown (or made an enzyme that disrupted the gas release), which will mean it will stay good longer as well, not just look good. It would be easer than making an apple that went bad but looked good.
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11-29-2010 @2:30PM Beth said... Please leave our food alone. No one knows what genetically altered foods will do to us or our planet 100 yrs more or less down the road. Mother Nature is not to be altered. I think our need to "improve" things is outweighing our common sense. Why the need to change the way we grow and eat our foods? Natural is the best. The more naturally grown and harvested is the way I buy our food. Leave the chemicals and genetics alone. If you don't at least make it law to tell us which ones are altered so we can make the decision to buy the ones we want.
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11-29-2010 @3:15PM Michael Schmitt said... If you eat soy or corn, there's a good chance that you've been eating GMO foods for the last several years. 80%+ of corn and soy are genetically modified. It's just a fact of life in today's modern world. GMO plants are helping to grow food in drough-afflicted areas of Africa and can add disease preventing vitamins to the staples of 3rd world nations (think of the golden rice). As with any technology, there are pros and cons about GMO foods, but please don't assume that all GMO is bad for the world.
11-29-2010 @3:43PM andrea said... actually all apples in grocery stores are genetically mutated and are clones....yes 100% of the trees that grow gala, ruby red, and other popular apple are just split clones from a original, taste-manufactured tree. so unless u are growing ur own apples, u already eat altered food which is not naturally grown, even organic apples come from clones. just thought u should know
11-29-2010 @3:49PM Mark said... How do you know that what you are eating isn't genitically altered by its very nature? How are you sure that your taste wasnt genetically altered by that diet soda you drank last week? What does genetically altered actually mean? Do you understand that sunlight genetically alters your cells and that the choices you make are predisposed but not engraved in stone? The carcinogens in the atmosphere genetically alter you on a daily basis which is where cancer comes from. Worry more about that Starbucks with the extra sugar and fat you drink tomorow and less about apples that you could give a crap about.
12-01-2010 @5:48PM Madeleine Love said... It always 'astonishes' me that people rooting for GM don't know the difference between natural sexual reproduction in the plants (or grafting in the case of many fruit trees) and transgenic technology.
12-01-2010 @6:48PM Madeleine Love said... No kidding Michael! Andrea, go and learn about transgenic technology before trying to argue it's the same as what we're eating. Mark, you can go and learn about transgenic tech too. Don't rejoin the discussion until you've read up.
11-29-2010 @11:08PM Renee said... Big difference between genetically altered by a natural, organic process versus a man-made one.
Our bodies know the difference and will respond in protest i.e.: an immune response to a foreign substance and eventual illness
It's NOT nice to fool Mother Nature!
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11-29-2010 @7:38PM Pat said... Our "next generation" is already feeling the effects of food additives. Milk has antibiotics, Beef has growth hormone and antibiotics, chicken has antibiotics... The list goes on. This has led to children reaching puberty at age 8. When you go to the grocery store, look on the box. If there are ingredients which you cannot pronounce, it doesn't need to go into your body! It is possible to buy a half or a quarter of a cow that was raised without additives. Just look around. Your body will thank you for it.
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12-21-2010 @11:04AM RubyJune said... Are you guys seriously comparing apple genetic manipulation to the atomic bomb? Dial down the drama. Silencing a gene that slows oxygenation of the fruit is not going to hurt you.
And for the commenter who believes children are reaching puberty at 8 because your cow got a hormone shot, please read more sources. http://www.slate.com/id/2264500/.
The average age of menarche has not change from ~12 in females in the last 40 years.
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