As comment period closes, USDA approval of biotech apples looks likely
WASHINGTON,
Dec. 16, 2013 – An apple bioengineered to resist browning will be one step
closer to non-regulated status after 11:59 pm today – when the comment period closes
for the Arctic apples’ plant-pest
risk and environmental assessments. And despite a flurry of alarming headlines
and veritable wave of anti-GMO action alerts, industry experts say the apple
should be approved by the Agriculture Department early next year.
The
apples were developed by the Canadian biotechnology company Okanagan Specialty Fruits and have
undergone extensive field-testing, according to president and founder Neal
Carter.
“Ten
years of real-world field trial experience has shown that Arctic trees and
fruit are just like other apple varieties consumers have come to know and love,
until the fruit is bruised, bitten or cut,” he said in a statement.
Last
month, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service (APHIS) recommended two varieties of the apple (Arctic
Golden and Arctic Granny) be granted non-regulation status.
APHIS
concluded in an environmental assessment that the non-browning apples “have the
potential to improve fruit processing capabilities for maintain the quality and
shelf life of apples.”
But
some detractors say they are unconvinced by the agency’s conclusions. The Farm-to-Consumer
Legal Defense Fund, a non-profit organization that seeks to “defend the
rights and broaden the freedoms of family farms,” says in promotional materials
that “genetically engineered apples pose a potential threat to human health.”
The
organization’s widely disseminated sample comments have been submitted to USDA through
the regulations.gov
website over 150 times.
The U.S. Apple Association also initially said
it was against the approval of the non-browning apple – though not because the
group believes the product is unsafe, stressed Wendy Brannen, director of consumer
health and public affairs.
Instead,
the group said it doubted “the consumer demand was there for those
(non-browning) attributes.”
Now
that approval seems likely, however, Brannen says the Arctic apple’s success
“will become a matter of consumer choice.”
The
association says it is looking forward to supporting a GM apple that is engineered
to provide, for example, better nutrition.
Okanagan
Specialty Fruits says it anticipates U.S. approval in early 2014, with approval
in Canada soon to follow. Small quantities of the Arctic apple should become
available in autumn of 2015.
#30
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