It may sound like yet another gluten-free food start-up….but Crispr is a new molecular system that scientists can use to manipulate DNA – more quickly, simply and accurately than ever before….
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….When gene-altering techniques first moved from the greenhouse to the laboratory, scientists focused on helping growers: offering greater yields, reducing reliance on pesticides, or developing fruit and veg with a longer shelf life. That’s how we’ve ended up with mushrooms that don’t go brown….
But the latest crop is different. The new genetically modified organisms (GMOs) promise benefits to you, the consumer. Making food healthier has become a central goal of commercial users of the technology….There’s wheat whose gluten doesn’t trouble Celiac sufferers, “millennial pink” pineapples enriched with anti-cancer nutrient lycopene, and white bread engineered to be higher in fiber.
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The main bar to many of these foods going into production is public disapproval. When a new transgenic wonder-fruit drops from the science journals….the news story starts with a headline about “Frankenstein food.”
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Among the scientists speaking out [against this characterization is] Jayson Lusk, professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University in Indiana. “It’s just a tool, and a tool can be used in good or bad ways,” he says. “A blanket rejection of a tool is a naive, uncritical position….”
Read full, original article: Genetically Modified Food to the Rescue?
