加拿大生物技術公司推動美國農業部去批准轉基因蘋果

加拿大生物技術公司推動美國農業部去批准轉基因蘋果
Canadian biotech company pushes USDA to approve GMO apples
Saturday, December 04, 2010
by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Translation by Autumnson Blog

(NaturalNews) Okanagan Specialty Fruits (OSF), a British Columbian biotechnology company, is petitioning the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to approve a genetically-modified (GM) variety of apple that the company says does not brown after being sliced. The company licensed the technology from Australian researchers who have already used it in potatoes to eliminate the browning enzyme. The current request marks the first time a company has sought approval for GM apples.
（NaturalNews）一間英屬哥倫比亞生物技術公司那根專業水果（OSF），在申請美國農業部美國農業部（USDA）批准一種轉基因（GM）的蘋果系列，那該公司表示不會在被切片後轉棕色。公司從澳洲研究人員的技術取得牌照，他們已將技術用於土豆以消除酶褐變。當前的請求標誌著，第一次一間公司尋求轉基因蘋果的批准。
Though the company says the technology will lower the cost of producing sliced apple products like the ones now sold at many grocers and fast-food restaurants, it has not been determined that the GM apples are actually safe for human consumption, even though Neal Carter, president of OSF, insists they are safe for humans and the environment.
雖然該公司說，技術將降低切片蘋果產品的生產成本，像那些現已售往很多雜貨店和快餐店的，它仍沒有被確定轉基因蘋果供人食用實際上是安全的，即使OSF主席尼爾卡特堅持它們對人類和環境是安全的。
R. Andre Bell, a spokesman from the USDA, has indicated that the agency will have to review the proposal and make a proper judgment. Those opposed to the request cite cross-contamination problems and unknown effects in humans and the environment as several reasons among many for the petition to be rejected.

"Scientists have been saying they're only turning one thing off (the browning enzyme), but that switch is connected to another switch and another switch," responded Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety, concerning the false notion that eliminating just one apple enzyme is safe. "You can't just do one thing to nature. It's nice to think so, but it just doesn't work that way."

Another concern about the GM apple is that it stays looking fresh for a very long time, even after it has technically gone bad. So if approved, suppliers and retailers will end up benefiting the most because the visual shelf life of the "Frankenapples" is indefinite.

Sources for this story include:

http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyl...
http://www.naturalnews.com/030615_GMO_apples.html