Articles
FIELD TRIALS AND RISK EVALUATION OF TOMATOES GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOR ENHANCED FIRMNESS AND SHELF LIFE
Article number
336_17
Pages
133 – 146
Language
Abstract
Results from nine field trials of FLAVR SAVR™ tomato showed no differences as compared with other tomato cultivars, except with characteristics related to pectin and the presence of the introduced kan‘ gene and its gene product, APH(3’)II. Nutritional levels, taste (for tomatoes picked at the same stage), processing characteristics, horticultural and developmental traits, and potential toxins (solanine and tomatine) were unchanged.
Data were generated to show that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulated articles (7 CFR 340.2), tml 3′ terminator, mas 5′ promoter, mas 3′ terminator, the right and left border regions from A. tumefaciens; and the 35S promoter region from cauliflower mosaic virus, did not make these tomato lines a plant pest risk.
These sequences, isolated from their source organisms, did not present a plant pest risk in and of themselves.
Furthermore, the components of the Ti plasmid of A. tumefaciens that are considered a plant pest risk were not present in FLAVR SAVR tomato lines.
The antisense polygalacturonase gene did not confer weediness to tomato.
There was no selective advantage to possession of this trait that temporarily delays fruit softening.
Normal crop practices will control any persistence (which will be no different than any other tomato cultivar) that might occur in tomato fields, since the plant is grown as an annual.
On the basis of these data, we have requested the USDA and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to determine that FLAVR SAVR tomatoes are not a food or environmental risk and therefore should be regulated as any other tomato cultivars.
Data were generated to show that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulated articles (7 CFR 340.2), tml 3′ terminator, mas 5′ promoter, mas 3′ terminator, the right and left border regions from A. tumefaciens; and the 35S promoter region from cauliflower mosaic virus, did not make these tomato lines a plant pest risk.
These sequences, isolated from their source organisms, did not present a plant pest risk in and of themselves.
Furthermore, the components of the Ti plasmid of A. tumefaciens that are considered a plant pest risk were not present in FLAVR SAVR tomato lines.
The antisense polygalacturonase gene did not confer weediness to tomato.
There was no selective advantage to possession of this trait that temporarily delays fruit softening.
Normal crop practices will control any persistence (which will be no different than any other tomato cultivar) that might occur in tomato fields, since the plant is grown as an annual.
On the basis of these data, we have requested the USDA and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to determine that FLAVR SAVR tomatoes are not a food or environmental risk and therefore should be regulated as any other tomato cultivars.
Authors
K. Redenbaugh, W. Hiatt
Keywords
Tomato, Lycopersicon, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), risk assessment, field trials, transgenic
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