Gene-edited Foods: Yes or No?
Gene-edited foods could soon be hitting supermarket shelves in the UK as the government announced plans to allow gene-edited foods to be sold unlabeled in British supermarkets, promoting an outcry from some consumers who claim they "should be given a choice".
GE foods are produced using the gene-editing tool CRISPR, which edits the existing DNA of a plant or animal. Unlike genetically modified food, gene-edited food contains no "foreign" DNA from other species. Scientists use a specialized protein to make tiny changes to the organism's DNA that could occur naturally or through selective breeding.
Environment Secretary George Eustice insisted that GE products would not need to be advertised as such because they are "fundamentally natural". However, Scotland and Wales both vowed to reject the move, and Britain's biggest supermarkets have so far refused to confirm if they will stock the foods.
Now let's take a closer look at some of the GE foods that could be on shelves in the UK as early as next year.
Vitamin D-boosted tomatoes
Tomatoes have been genetically engineered to produce more vitamin D. Researchers claim that the "super" fruits could help reduce the risk of developing diseases such as cancer, Parkinson's disease and dementia (痴呆).
Mushrooms that don't go brown
A variety of white button mushroom has been genetically edited so that it doesn't go brown when sliced. The researchers used CRISPR to remove a small piece of one gene that causes mushroom browning. Thus it can stay on supermarket shelves for longer, reducing food waste.
Bread that reduces cancer risk from burnt toast
Acrylamide (丙烯酰胺), a substance that can cause cancer, is created when bread is baked or toasted. Researchers have edited the genome (基因组) of wheat to reduce its production of the cancer-causing chemical.
Chickens resistant to bird flu
Researchers have used gene-editing techniques to grow chicken cells that are unable to replicate the bird flu virus in a lab. They edited a section of chicken DNA to make it resistant to the virus.