When is an apple genetically modified?

Is modifying apple genes sequences in a lab all that much different from doing so using traditional cross breeding methods? That is a question that the Agriculture Department will want to officially answer though their current thinking seems to lean towards a NO.

An apple genetically engineered not to turn brown is putting the Agriculture Department and the apple industry on the spot.

Organic growers such as House fear that honeybees will spread genetically engineered apple pollen and contaminate organic orchards. Some consumer advocates maintain a more general antipathy toward engineered foods, while industry groups that include the Northwest Horticultural Council in Yakima, Wash., also object to what would be the first genetically engineered apple in commercial production.

The U.S. Apple Association, noting that “browning is a natural process related to the exposure to oxygen,” has likewise voiced opposition to the Arctic apple.

Thousands of others have weighed in as the Agriculture Department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service considers whether to grant “non-regulated status” to varieties called the Arctic Golden and the Arctic Granny. Approval would give the commercial green light to British Columbia’s Okanagan Specialty Fruits.

Unlike some other genetically modified crops, the Arctic apple doesn’t include genes spliced in from an entirely different species. The Arctic apple’s resistance to what scientists call “enzymatic browning,” which is what happens when a typical apple is cut or bruised, comes from the insertion of a certain genetic sequence taken from an apple. The inserted sequence essentially suppresses the browning process.

With federal approval, the company no longer would need special permits before it put the genetically modified apples into production...

While the public comments have often been skeptical, federal officials have sounded sympathetic. In an 83-page draft environmental assessment completed last year, Agriculture Department scientists recommended approving the product they think can help the apple industry.

“Browning reduces apple quality by causing detrimental flavor and nutritional changes that limit apple’s fresh-market, fresh-cut and processing applications,” the Agriculture Department officials noted.

The federal assessment further concluded that the genetically engineered apples “are unlikely to post a plant pest risk.” As a result, the federal officials rejected the need for buffer zones separating Arctic apples from other orchards. Organic growers, the officials predicted, “will not be substantially affected” by the “limited acreage” planted with the genetically engineered crops, though officials added that organic growers “may need to discuss their needs” with neighbors who opt for the Arctic apples.

On the face of it, the question seems fairly easy, but will the answer open the door for more radically and potentially dangerous modifications?