Who the hell will eat purple tomatoes?
We're supposed to be very excited about the purple tomato.
This is the sad looking salad item developed by scientists in Norwich which has changed colour because it has been genetically modified by being given two genes from a snapdragon.
The result is that - as well as being purple - it carries increased levels of something called anthocyanins which may offer protection from some forms of cancer.
Perhaps.
We can't be sure because the only tests so far have been carried out on mice which themselves have been specially bred to be peculiarly susceptible to developing cancer in the first place.
And in any case there are a few problems here.
Even if the purple tom does have some anti-cancer properties, how are we going to get people to eat it? As everybody knows, the population is already resistant to eating anything vaguely healthy, which includes salads.
If we can't get people to eat nice red tomatoes how on earth are they supposed to be persuaded to eat purple ones?
Anyway, the new tom contains only the same amount of anthocyanins as a spoonful of cranberries. So why not eat a spoonful of cranberries then? Or a snapdragon for that matter?
The truth is, of course, that the gushing announcements of this research - paid for with our money - have more to do with the promotion of GM technology than the realities of healthy living.
The Government is, for some reason, desperate to foist GM crops upon the British countryside despite the potentially disastrous effects they could have on our soils and all existing plant life.
So it is desperate for a few public relations victories in order to convince us that GM is a cute and cuddly science that can do us nothing but good.
Indeed, news of the purple tomato came alongside the leak of papers that reveal a new EU campaign to push GM down our throats.
The initiative - agreed by representatives of 27 Governments including our own - is designed to speed up the widespread introduction of GM crops and to "deal with" public resistance.
Prepare yourself for news of the bright orange lettuce that makes you thinner, richer, younger and much more attractive to the opposite sex.
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Authors
George Tyndale - Sunday Mercury columnist
Who the hell will eat purple tomatoes?
Blind people?
good
This is a ridiculous article. the reason it has been developed in a tomato is because it is a widely eaten fruit, even by unhealthy eating people. For example in salad in burgers and pasta sauces. converslely, I don't know many people who eat a lot of cranberries, or blueberries OR snapdragons for that matter. And we are really supposed to think that two new genes for chemicals which already exist in other plants and are readily broken down and have no effect on developmental or reproductive processes of the plant are going to cause environmental damage?
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I'm not sure, but i think you actually posted a picture of the OSU blue tomato, which is being developed at Oregon state university, but is NOT genetically modified. Yes there are some people trying to make GM versions, but there are also some people trying to make some with conventional breeding.