Hong Key
02-17-2015, 02:07 AM
United States OKs Canadian grown non-browning GMO apples (http://www.thestar.com/life/food_wine/2015/02/13/united-states-oks-canadian-grown-non-browning-gmo-apples.html)
Okanagan Specialty Fruits two genetically modified apples — Arctic Golden and Arctic Granny — are deregulated by the United States Department of Agriculture.
By: Michele Henry Staff reporter, Published on Fri Feb 13 2015
http://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/2015/02/14/non-browning-gmo-apples-get-the-ok-in-u-s-/4054843150001-videoStillImage.jpg
The world’s first non-browning GMO apple has been approved for consumption.
Summerland B.C.-based Okanagan Specialty Fruits got the go-ahead from the United States Department of Agriculture to sell genetically modified, non-browning apples.
U.S. federal regulators announced the decision to deregulate Arctic Golden and Arctic Granny apples in the United States on Feb. 13, ending a nearly two-decade approval process.
“We are very proud to have reached this milestone,” said Neal Carter, president and founder of Okanagan Specialty Fruits. “We’re one step closer to offering non-browning Arctic apples to eager consumers.”
Carter has been working to get the apples approved for consumption since 1996 and says because of the lengthy journey these two varieties of genetically modified apples, which were tweaked in the lab not to brown when touched or cut open, are the most studied hand-held fruit around.
The apples have been “rigorously reviewed by multiple regulatory bodies” said Carter. All have reached the same conclusion, he said: “Arctic apples present no unique risks and are just as safe and healthy as any other apple.”
In its decision, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said the apples “are unlikely to pose a plant pest risk” and deregulation “is not likely to have a significant impact on the human environment.”
Nonetheless anti-GMO groups have been quick to denounce the decision.
The Canadian Biotechnology Action Network is demanding the Canadian market stay closed to this controversial fruit.
“Health Canada should not approve this apple,” says co-ordinator Lucy Sharratt of the non-profit GMO watchdog. “Consumers and farmers don’t want it on the market.”
Okanagan Specialty Fruits still needs the Canadian federal regulators to approve it for consumption and allow the company to sell it on the Canadian market.
Carter expects a domestic decision sometime this year.
It takes years to grow the apple trees and the first fruits probably won’t hit small test markets in the United States until 2016.
http://www.thestar.com/life/food_wine/2015/02/13/united-states-oks-canadian-grown-non-browning-gmo-apples.html
Okanagan Specialty Fruits two genetically modified apples — Arctic Golden and Arctic Granny — are deregulated by the United States Department of Agriculture.
By: Michele Henry Staff reporter, Published on Fri Feb 13 2015
http://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/2015/02/14/non-browning-gmo-apples-get-the-ok-in-u-s-/4054843150001-videoStillImage.jpg
The world’s first non-browning GMO apple has been approved for consumption.
Summerland B.C.-based Okanagan Specialty Fruits got the go-ahead from the United States Department of Agriculture to sell genetically modified, non-browning apples.
U.S. federal regulators announced the decision to deregulate Arctic Golden and Arctic Granny apples in the United States on Feb. 13, ending a nearly two-decade approval process.
“We are very proud to have reached this milestone,” said Neal Carter, president and founder of Okanagan Specialty Fruits. “We’re one step closer to offering non-browning Arctic apples to eager consumers.”
Carter has been working to get the apples approved for consumption since 1996 and says because of the lengthy journey these two varieties of genetically modified apples, which were tweaked in the lab not to brown when touched or cut open, are the most studied hand-held fruit around.
The apples have been “rigorously reviewed by multiple regulatory bodies” said Carter. All have reached the same conclusion, he said: “Arctic apples present no unique risks and are just as safe and healthy as any other apple.”
In its decision, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said the apples “are unlikely to pose a plant pest risk” and deregulation “is not likely to have a significant impact on the human environment.”
Nonetheless anti-GMO groups have been quick to denounce the decision.
The Canadian Biotechnology Action Network is demanding the Canadian market stay closed to this controversial fruit.
“Health Canada should not approve this apple,” says co-ordinator Lucy Sharratt of the non-profit GMO watchdog. “Consumers and farmers don’t want it on the market.”
Okanagan Specialty Fruits still needs the Canadian federal regulators to approve it for consumption and allow the company to sell it on the Canadian market.
Carter expects a domestic decision sometime this year.
It takes years to grow the apple trees and the first fruits probably won’t hit small test markets in the United States until 2016.
http://www.thestar.com/life/food_wine/2015/02/13/united-states-oks-canadian-grown-non-browning-gmo-apples.html