Nearly every morning I slice and eat an apple
with my breakfast. I am particularly fond of Fujis, Galas, and
Granny Smiths. Now the New York Times tells me that the
some nice Canadian apple growers, Okanagan Specialty Fruits, have
developed an
improved biotech apple that does not brown when cut.
Hooray!

Not so fast say the forces of darkness (or is it brown-ness?)!
As the Times reports:

But the U.S. Apple Association, which represents the American
apple industry, opposes introduction of the product, as do some
other industry organizations. They say that, while they do not
believe that the genetic engineering is dangerous, it could
undermine the fruit’s image as a healthy and natural food, the one
that keeps the doctor away and is as American as, well, apple
pie.

“We don’t think it’s in the best interest of the apple industry
of the United States to have that product in the marketplace at
this time,” said Christian Schlect, president of the Northwest
Horticultural Council, which represents the tree-fruit industry in
and around Washington State, which produces about 60 percent of the
nation’s apples.

Say what? Who the hell is “We” – I want to try them apples! The
would-be growers of these improved apples believe that selling them
will expand the market. How? Well, for example, my gym typically
has a bowl of whole apples available for the taking, yet very few
people actually snag one. As Neal Carter the founder of Okanagan
Specialty Fruits observes:

A whole apple is “for many people too big a commitment,” he
said. “If you had a bowl of apples at a meeting, people wouldn’t
take an apple out of the bowl. But if you had a plate of apple
slices, everyone would take a slice.”

I believe that he’s right. So why do apple industry lobbyists
oppose the new improved varieties? It’s not only competitive
worries, but also fears that self-appointed anti-biotech
propagandists will attack the entire industry. And sure enough the
Times hauls out anti-biotechie who acts like a talking
snake has just offered her a bite:

Lucy Sharratt, coordinator of the Canadian Biotechnology Action
Network, a coalition of groups critical of genetically engineered
crops….  said the genetic engineering was “designed to turn
the apple into an industrialized product” that could be sold in
plastic bags instead of as whole fresh fruit.

And just what nefarious genetic manipulations have the
developers used to make this FrankenFruit?

Arctic Apples, which
would first be available in the Golden Delicious and Granny Smith
varieties, contain a synthetic gene that sharply reduces production
of polyphenol oxidase, an enzyme responsible for the browning.

The gene does not come from another species. Rather, it contains
DNA sequences from four of the apple’s own genes that govern
production of polyphenol oxidase. Putting an extra copy of a gene
into a plant can activate a self-defense mechanism known as RNA
interference that shuts down both the extra copy and the endogenous
gene.

That’s right – no new genes added; not that there’s anything
inherently wrong with adding new genes. And there’s no difference
in the nutritional value of the improved varieties versus the
conventional ones.

That’s all very well about their nutritional value, but if the
biotech apples don’t taste as good or better than their
conventional competitors, then it won’t matter if they don’t brown.
In any case, it should not be up to cowering industry lobbyists or
lying anti-biotechies to decide whether the new varieties are a
good deal or not; in a free market economy the ultimate arbiters
should be consumers. I want my biotech apples now!