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USA – ARE WE READY FOR GM PLUMS?
Genetically engineered plums may not find a willing market
18 September 2006. Source: San Francisco Chronicle (via Agnet)
A genetically engineered stone fruit tree, the 'HoneySweet' plum could be the first such stone fruit to be released for commerical use.
The patented 'HoneySweet' plum (Prunus domestica), developed by the USDA Agricultural Research Service in collaboration with the Institute National de la Recherche Agronomique in Paris and Cornell University, resists the plum pox virus, a plant virus not harmful to humans but deadly to stone fruit yields.
Whether the plum's future will be as sweet as its name depends upon many things, including the travels of the plum pox virus, whether the plum's custom-designed DNA
can do its job without recombining with other species and whether consumers will eat the fruit.
In 2004, the USDA-ARS petitioned the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to grant the 'HoneySweet' a nonregulated status. Genetically engineered varieties that might pose a plant pest risk can be grown, tested and transported only under permit from USDA-APHIS until the agency determines that they no longer present a risk.
Petitioning for deregulation is often the first step toward the commercialisation of a variety. The 'HoneySweet' plum was placed in the regulated category because its new DNA contains genetic material from the plum pox virus itself.
The agency now wants to deregulate the plum, and expects to make a decision within two to three months.
Despite its name, the plum pox virus does not limit itself to plums. Depending upon the strain of the virus, it can have equally devastating effects on apricots, peaches, sweet and sour cherries, and nectarines. On some trees, the virus causes fruit to drop prematurely. On others, it scars and deforms the fruit. Total losses are not uncommon once trees are infected. The only method of halting the spread of the virus once it appears in an orchard is to destroy the trees.
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