GM Apples

The genetically modified apple known as the Arctic Apple has been approved.

The below is the best summary, written by C. J. Walke of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardener Association. This is not the complete article, but the main points.

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Okanagan Specialty Fruits Inc., based in Summerland, British Columbia, has genetically engineered (GE) two varieties of “non-browning” apple to resist enzymatic browning. Enzymatic browning is the oxidation of apple flesh once it’s cut open and exposed it to oxygen in the air. Anyone who’s ever cut an apple has observed this process, as it results in browning.

Arctic Apples have been genetically engineered to halt this oxidation. A gene creates the polyphenol oxidase enzyme that causes initial browning in apples, but inserting extra copies of this gene (from apples) shuts down production of polyphenol oxidase. That is how Okanagan engineered these trees. The apples will eventually decompose like all other apples, but the initial oxidation is blocked by the excess genes, so your cut up apple looks white and “fresh” longer.

According to The Cornucopia Institute, Okanagan inserted not only extra copies of the polyphenol oxidase gene but also nptII, neomycin phosphotransferase type II gene, from E. coli Tn5 into Arctic Apples. This gene allows the GE apple tissue to grow on a medium containing the antibiotic kanamycin but confers no benefit to the apple plant. So every cell of every GE apple tree, including the fruit, will show resistance to kanamycin – an antibiotic commonly used to treat infections in humans. Eating an Arctic Apple could transfer the gene for kanamycin resistance into the human digestive system, says Cornucopia, possibly enabling bacteria in the human digestive system to develop kanamycin resistance – a major concern among medical professionals. The antibiotic-resistance gene could also spread to bacteria on the plant and in the soil.

The U.S. Apple Association and apple growers in the Northwest are very concerned and do not support these varieties – not for health concerns, but for marketplace concerns. They worry that consumer distrust of GE foods will translate into distrust of apples altogether and will seriously impact fresh apple sales in the United States and abroad.

For the past 10 years, Okanagan has been growing test plots of Arctic Granny and Arctic Golden varieties, with USDA permits, on a few acres in New York and Washington state to see how the trees produce in different climates. The company is now working to engineer the same non-browning traits into Fuji and Gala apples. With USDA approval likely, we will soon see these apples on grocery store shelves, but only time will reveal their effects on the U.S. apple industry and on our health.

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I am fervently against genetically modified foods/products of any kind and I for one, will not purchase these apples.