{"id":4738,"date":"2009-07-27T13:26:35","date_gmt":"2009-07-27T19:26:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=4738"},"modified":"2009-07-27T13:26:35","modified_gmt":"2009-07-27T19:26:35","slug":"would-you-eat-cloned-fruit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/would-you-eat-cloned-fruit\/","title":{"rendered":"Would You Eat Cloned Fruit?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/a> Cloned asian pears in New Zealand <\/a>(photo Steve Savage)<\/p>\n [social_buttons]<\/p>\n OK, I’ll admit it. \u00a0That question and the picture caption are a little bit manipulative because few people know that all<\/strong> the major fruit crops are technically “cloned” because they have to be to get the varieties we want. \u00a0If you take the seed of a Fuji apple and plant it, the tree you will eventually grow will not make Fuji apples<\/a>.<\/p>\n It will be something new because when the apple flower was pollinated there was a new combination of genes from the male and female flower. \u00a0Its the same reason our kids don’t come out exactly like either parent. \u00a0So, for\u00a0millennia, people have been propagating the fruit varieties they liked by making cuttings<\/a> or grafting<\/a> or some other way to keep the identical genetics of the desirable fruit.<\/p>\n So, there really isn’t anything creepy about eating cloned<\/a> fruit, but because I use the emotive term, “cloned,” I can usually get a negative response. \u00a0Why do I mess with farming-naive people this way? \u00a0I do it to make the point that if you want to understand controversial issues about food and the environment, you need to be vigilant about being manipulated by emotive terms.<\/p>\n I find this to be particularly true about the anti-GMO camp. \u00a0Its one thing to make an argument, but the reason that many people are afraid of these things is that they have been given a healthy dose of disinformation, often through the use of emotive terms that don’t really convey information as much as they do fear.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Syrah grapes (photo by Steve Savage)<\/p>\n A Classic Example of Manipulation with an Emotive Term<\/p>\n I’ll give an example. \u00a0A few years back, Mendocino<\/a> County in California was voting on an initiative to ban GMO<\/a> crops in that county. \u00a0The argument was that they might “contaminate” the pristine Organic crops in the county. \u00a0Leaving aside the point that there really aren’t GMO crops you would grow there, the genetic “contamination” issue was an effective red herring.<\/p>\n If someone talked about “cross pollination<\/a>” or “out-crossing” I don’t think so many people would have been alarmed, but “genetic contamination” made what is really a very natural process sound scary. \u00a0In nature pollen from one plant gets to another one with the help of the wind or bees or other pollinator species. \u00a0We generally think of that as a good thing and are rightly concerned if there are problems for bees. \u00a0The exact thing happens with both GMO and non-GMO crops. \u00a0But pollen can only contribute its genes to a very closely related<\/a> plant. \u00a0If there were ever to be something like GMO grapes, the pollen could only go to another grape – not any other crop.<\/p>\n One of the larger Mendocino wineries (which shall remain unnamed) was supporting the ban. \u00a0I called a Ph.D. level viticulturist there and asked why? \u00a0She gave me the “genetic contamination” line because they grow a lot of Organic grapes. \u00a0I was stunned. \u00a0I said, “you do know how grapes are propagated, right?” \u00a0Of course she knew that they are grafted as buds onto rootstocks which are grown from cuttings (all forms of “Cloning”). \u00a0You don’t raise grapes from seeds and besides, grapes almost completely “self” pollinate from anthers in the same flower (I could probably make that sound scary if I wanted to). \u00a0I asked the viticulturist if they have ever had a “contamination” issue when blocks of Chardonnay are planted right next to Cabernet? \u00a0Of course they had not. \u00a0What it really came down to was that the use of ominous terminology had so colored the debate in the county that it was politically inviable for the winery to take a stand for GMO (particularly since it is so unlikely to happen anyway).<\/p>\n If you are someone who cares about the environment and about the food supply, I’d encourage you to be savvy about information sources that use emotive terminology. \u00a0Try the “cloned fruit” line on some friends and then help spread this caution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cloned asian pears in New Zealand (photo Steve Savage) [social_buttons] OK, I’ll admit it. \u00a0That question and the picture caption are a little bit manipulative because few people know that [ … ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":4739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,1],"tags":[3668,3669,3670,20],"yoast_head":"\n
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