Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
chosen. adult. consumers. in. major. U.S.. metropolitan. areas.. Food. labels. are. kept.
simple.and.focus.on.key.attributes.of.experimental.goods..Diverse.private.informa-
tion.from.the.agricultural.biotech.industry.(largely.Monsanto.and.Syngenta),.envi-
ronmental.groups.(largely.Greenpeace.and.Friends.of.the.Earth),.and.independent.
third-party.information.(scientiically.objective.at.the.time.of.the.experiments).is.
used.to.construct.the.information.treatments..Willingness.to.pay.is.determined.by.
experimental. lab. auctions. under. random. food. label. and. information. treatments..
Auctions.are.best.described.as.sealed.bid.random.
n
th.price.and.not.a.irst.price.of.
Vickery.2nd.price.auction..I.show.that.participants.in.these.experiments.respond.
both.to.food.labels.and.information.treatments,.but.no.single.type.of.information.
is.dominant.
The.irst.section.of.the.chapter.reviews.early.development.of.GM.crops.that.
were. largely. input. traits. of. herbicide. tolerance. and. insect. resistance. that. have.
now. spread. unevenly. across. the. world,. and. the. second. section. describes. some.
new.methods.for.developing.GM.vegetable.crops.with.enhanced.consumer.attri-
butes..The.third.section.summarizes.the.development.of.U.S..food-label.policy.
and.requirements..The.fourth.section.briely.describes.experimental.evidence.on.
consumer. willingness. to. pay. for. GM. foods. using. lab. auctions. of. experimental.
commodities..In.the.inal.section,.some.conclusions.and.predictions.about.likely.
future.developments.in.commercial.horticultural.crops.are.presented.
EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF GM CROPS
The.irst.commercial.GM.crops.were.the.Flavr-Savr.tomato,.developed.for.sale.in.the.
United. States. by. Calgene,. and. the. Russet. Burbank. New. Leaf. potato. developed. by.
Monsanto..These.two.products.were.the.irst.whole.foods.produced.with.biotechnology.
that.were.approved.by.the.U.S..Food.and.Drug.Administration.(FDA).for.retail.sale.*.
The.Flavr-Savr.tomato,.“a.delayed-ripening.tomato,”.was.the.product.of.more.than.a.
decade.of.research.to.develop.a.tomato.that.could.be.picked.when.ripe.and.transported.
without.bruising
..
(pp..256-257).
3
.The.claim.was.that.it.would.have.a.longer.shelf-life.
than.conventional.tomatoes.and.would.provide.consumers.and.processors.with.tastier.
tomatoes.because.the.fruit.had.been.left.to.mature.on.the.vine.
†
.This.was.accomplished.
*
.
A.potential.food.safety.concern.was.raised.by.the.fact.that.in.creating.the.GM.tomato,.a.marker.gene.
for. the. antibiotic. kanamycin. was. inserted.. The. marker. gene. is. helpful. for. identifying. which. plants.
have.been.affected.by.a.target.gene.
3
.When.the.marker.is.an.antibiotic,.technicians.test.for.presence.
of.successfully.transferred.genes.of.interest.by.applying.the.antibiotic..Only.those.cells.that.contain.
the.antibiotic.resistance.will.survive.this.treatment,.and.thereby.indicate.that.an.accompanying.target.
gene.is.present..The.FDA,.however,.found.no.food.safety.concerns.due.to.insertion.of.foreign.antibiot-
ics.into.plant.cells.
†.
Because.U.S..winter.fresh.market.tomato.production.is.concentrated.in.Florida,.which.means.shipping.
the.fruit.long.distances.to.the.U.S..retail.markets.in.the.East,.Midwest,.and.South,.it.is.important.that.the.
fruit.does.not.perish.on.its.journey.to.market.because.of.its.soft.skin..(Winter.tomatoes.for.the.West.are.
generally.supplied.by.Mexico.).The.conventional.solution.has.been.for.tomato.farmers.to.pick.the.fruits.
while.they.are.green,.i.e.,.“mature.greens,”.transport.them.to.the.location.of.the.retail.market.and.then.
spray.them.with.ethylene,.a.natural.ripening.agent,.to.artiicially.ripen.and.redden.the.fruit..However,.
the.artiicially.ripened.tomatoes.have.an.inferior.lavor.relative.to.vine-ripened.tomatoes.
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