TORONTO -- Scientists are growing genetically edited tomato plants that can produce twice as many tomatoes. Mushrooms are tweaked so that they do not go brown. There鈥檚 an American restaurant chain that uses a special, soybean plant-based oil, genetically edited to produce less saturated fats and zero trans fats.
Gene-editing sounds similar to genetically modified organisms (GMO), but uses a relatively new technique, CRISPR, which makes gene editing simpler, cheaper and significantly faster.
It is a revolutionary tool that can 鈥渆dit鈥� genetic material with high precision, by turning a gene off or introducing a variation, to create higher-yielding, more nutritious, and disease-resistant crops, for example. Unlike GMOs, foreign genes from other species are not added in, though the changes are permanent and can be passed on through seeds. Researchers are using the tool to try and solve a wide range of food-related challenges. Gene-edited crops have the potential to keep croplands productive despite changing climates and could also reduce farmers鈥� reliance on fertilizers. It could also make raising livestock more efficient, more sustainable, and more humane.
Genetically modified foods, on the other hand, have been around for decades and use genetic engineering to transfer or introduce new genes. Canola, for example, is a genetically modified product, created by humans in a lab in Manitoba. But GMOs, sometimes pejoratively dubbed 鈥淔rankenfoods,鈥� have faced criticism by consumers, environmentalists and others concerned over health safety and the environmental impact mixing genes from different species might cause.
The general consensus among scientists and such international bodies as the World Health Organization, and the U.S.-based FDA and the National Institutes of Health, however, is that genetically modified foods remain safe to eat.
While there are no gene-edited foods on Canadian grocery shelves at the moment, Sylvain Charlebois, a professor in Food Distribution and Policy at Dalhousie University, says it鈥檚 likely inevitable they will be one day.
鈥淚f it鈥檚 happening in the United States, eventually it will come to Canada,鈥� he told CTV鈥檚 Your Morning. 鈥淲hen you look at Health Canada regulations, certifications and approvals aren鈥檛 necessary at this point, so that's why you鈥檙e likely going to see gene-edited foods in our supply chain without any approvals whatsoever.鈥�
Unlike the European Union, which typically regulates based on the process to make the food, North American regulators tend to look at final outcomes, Charlebois said.
鈥淪o if we don鈥檛 see a difference, certification isn鈥檛 necessarily required.鈥�
In the European Union, labelling is required on all food products containing more than 0.9 per cent of approved GMOs and must be traceable to its origin.
鈥淚n Canada, we have a voluntary (GMO) labelling policy,鈥� said Charlebois. 鈥淭he reality is that 75 to 80 per cent of everything you see in a grocery store that鈥檚 been processed would have a genetic modified ingredient - and really, you can鈥檛 tell as a consumer.鈥�
