Organic Tomatoes  (Above image)

vs.

Non-organic  GMO Flavr Savr  the failed tomato

The scientific evidence shows that GMO (non-organic) food is harmful.

"The Flavr Savr tomato was the first commercially grown genetically engineered food to be granted a license for human consumption. It was produced by the Californian company Calgene, and submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1992. It was first sold in 1994, and was only available for a few years before production ceased.

The tomato was made more resistant to rotting by adding an antisense gene which interferes with the production of the enzyme polygalacturonase (see RNA interference).

Unmodified tomatoes are picked before fully ripened and artificially ripened using ethylene gas which acts as a plant hormone. 

Health Concerns

The tomatoes contained marker genes that gave resistance to the antibiotic kanamycin which is used in medicine. People were concerned that if the genes passed out of the tomatoes and entered bacteria, the bacteria could develop resistance to the antibiotic, undermining its medical effectiveness. The question was referred by Calgene to the FDA who used Flavr Savr as a GMO test case. They approved Flavr Savr and Zeneca’s similar product in mid-1994. In doing so they decided that GMOs should not require official pre-market approval. Unlike food additives, for which pre-market approval is required in the US, they argued that GM foods are "substantially equivalent" to non-GM foods.

However, there was no proof that the tomatoes were safe are even 'equivalent' for consumption. Compositional analyses had indicated that the tomatoes had similar levels of nutrients and potentially toxic glycoalkaloids to non-GM tomatoes (Redenbaough et al, 1992). However, rat feeding trials showed various negative effects. The FDA ignored many of its own scientific advisers who were concerned that this research showed that GM tomatoes had a potential to cause stomach lesions.

Calgene had commissioned a 28-day feeding study. Four groups of 40 rats were fed either: one of two lines of a GM tomato (including the commercial Flavr Savr tomato), a non-GM tomato, or deionized water. Out of 20 female rats fed one of the lines of GM tomato, lesions were identified in four and seven of the rats by two experts panels respectively (the latter was an independent group). Because of these unexpected findings, the FDA requested another study to be carried out. In this, gross and microscopic lesions were found in two of 15 rats. No such effects were observed in the control rats. These findings were important as such gastric “erosions” are associated with haemorrhage in humans and can be a cause of death in elderly people. Additionally, the rats fed GM tomatoes grew the least and 7 of 40 rats eating GM tomatoes died within two weeks. These worrying findings, however, were played down by Calgene and not publicly communicated by the FDA.

References

http://www.soilassociation.org/web/sa/saweb.nsf/b0062cf005bc02c180256a6b003d987f/9f8d26bd0d23b83c8025704600419579?OpenDocument

Flavr Savr tomato & GM tomato puree: Problems with the first GM foods