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Jul 14, 2017

This Is How Gene-Editing Will Change The Food You Eat

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, food, genetics

For example, in 1994 Calgene won approval to sell the Flavr Savr tomato. To make a Flavr Savr, scientists genetically modified a garden variety tomato with aminoglycoside 3-phosphotransferase II, a compound that kept the fruit from rotting.

The tinkering sabotaged the process that makes tomatoes turn squishy. But the less-squishy tomatoes never did catch on with a skeptical public. The company was later sold to Monsanto.


It changed everything.

With CRISPR, scientists can literally edit organisms, removing the bits that lead to unfavorable outcomes.

Ethicists worry about a rush toward designer babies. And there have been some disturbing developments on that end in China. However, the real opportunity in the near term has always been agriculture.

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