
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 8, 1994                   TAG: 9404080061
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HERNDON                                LENGTH: Short

FDA SCIENTISTS SAY ALTERED TOMATO IS SAFE

A tomato genetically altered to stay ripe longer is safe for humans and the environment, government scientists say, bringing the tomato one step closer to the grocery store.

But despite the clean bill of health, no one can predict when Calgene Inc.'s Flavr Savr tomato will get final approval from the Food and Drug Administration.

Still, the safety determination by the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition makes it more likely the agency will approve the tomato, the first whole food produced through genetic engineering.

Scientists at Calgene, based in Davis, Calif., have altered tomatoes to halt production of an enzyme that causes them to get soft. As a result, shoppers will be able to buy tomatoes grown in winter that taste and feel like those grown in a summer garden.

The conclusions were released at a three-day meeting of the FDA's Food Advisory Committee, a panel of outside scientists and consumer advocates, to evaluate whether the agency and the company did enough research and asked enough questions after it began looking at the tomato in 1991.

The meeting was not legally required before approving the tomato, but it was intended to create public confidence that the FDA was as thorough as it needed to be in approving a breakthrough technology.

by CNB