Cancer-fighting tomatoes get US consumer vote
Date: 13-Nov-02
Country: USA
The Council for Biotechnology Information said this week that a research program aimed at enhancing tomatoes with an antioxidant believed to help fight cancer was ranked as the leading biotech food development in 2002 by two-thirds of a group of 1,000 American adults surveyed.
Such a tomato is not yet commercially available, but is one of myriad genetically modified plants going through the research and development process.
The other top developments in food biotechnology, according to the Roper survey, included a sweet potato that is resistant to a particularly destructive plant virus, bananas and potatoes that contain a vaccine for a sexually transmitted disease, a gene that keeps produce fresher longer, and developments that allow for plants to grow in extreme climates.
Current advancements in biotech foods represent a shift from the first wave of biotech plant developments, which have been aimed at pest and weed management, registered dietitian Mary Lee Chin said in a statement issued by the council.
The council was founded by a group of the world's largest purveyors of biotech food science, including BASF , DuPont , Monsanto , and Syngenta .
