GE research innovation.

Published: July 19, 2012

by Steffan Browning

U.S consumers are getting the chance to comment on a new GE crop.

And what is this exciting new crop that will feed the starving poor and revolutionise horticulture?

Just what we’ve always wanted: it’s an apple that doesn’t go brown when you cut it in half.

Published in Environment & Resource Management by Steffan Browning on Thu, July 19th, 2012   

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8 Comments

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1. Paul Bailey

   Posted July 19, 2012 at 8:13 AM

   If it wasn’t so serious it would be funny.

   Like or Dislike: 1  0 (+1)
2. MacDoctor

   Posted July 19, 2012 at 9:32 AM

   Very snarky, Steffan. But it is also an apple that does not require extensive refrigeration during transport. Ie it will (eventually) be cheaper and more readily available to those who can’t afford or obtain apples at present.

   Like or Dislike: 4  5 (-1)
3. Janine

   Posted July 19, 2012 at 2:14 PM

   Let the poor eat apples apparently, shipped from somewhere else… GE research is not about feeding the poor, it is about enriching the rich.

   Like or Dislike: 2  0 (+2)
4. Viv

   Posted July 19, 2012 at 2:36 PM

   MacDoctor- apples grow on trees.If you are concerned about making apples more readily available to those who can’t afford them- better to help by planting more apple trees, than by telling the hungry to wait for the non refrigerator truck with the GE ones.
   This GE idea is just to make the fruit ‘nicer’ to some fussy US consumers.

   Like or Dislike: 3  0 (+3)
5. robertguyton

   Posted July 19, 2012 at 3:11 PM

   I can confirm what Viv says; apples do indeed grow on trees. There’s no need at all, in this orchardist’s opinion, to engineer the genetics of the apple for any purpose. The range of fruit and their special characteristics is so wide that everything you hope an apple could be has already been bred into some apple variety somewhere. The trick as Viv notes, is to get those trees into position so that people can pick from them, as we are doing with our Open Orchard project here in Southland. You would be amazed at how many heritage apples trees we have provided for Southlanders in the past 4 years – orchards of them and many of those orchards growing in school yards too.
   The reason behind the American non-browning apple is, to my mind, akin to a Trojan Horse. Propose something that doesn’t seem at all bad, open the issue up for public comment where they are likely to say, well, okay, then rip into engineering other foods, knowing that the public has been softened to the idea.
   Watch Fonterra do that here with pasture grasses.

   Like or Dislike: 4  0 (+4)
6. greenfly

   Posted July 19, 2012 at 3:13 PM

   Frog – I’m reliably informed that Robert Guyton’s comments go straight to moderation and languish there for some time. Can you tell us/him why that is?

   Like or Dislike: 0  0 (0)
7. sprout

   Posted July 19, 2012 at 5:49 PM

   It does sound quite peculiar, Greenfly, Mr Guyton is far more polite and considerate in his comments than yourself.

   Like or Dislike: 0  0 (0)
8. fin

   Posted July 20, 2012 at 12:54 PM

   MacD, I don’t think the ‘antibrowning’ has an effect on the shelf life. To extend apple shelf life, apples are coated in antifungal/antibacterial chemicals. Perhaps the researchers should create an apple that produces it’s own antibiotics/fungicides. I’m not sure I’d want to eat it though..

   Like or Dislike: 2  0 (+2)