Decaf science

Even its best friends would concede that the genetically modified food industry has had a bit of an image problem. Selling "Frankenfood", as it is charmingly described in sections of the press, to the British public has certainly proved a challenge. Claims about improved pest- resistance and higher yields leave us cold. We can live without the non-mushy tomato that thus far represents the pinnacle of the industry's consumable achievements.

Even its best friends would concede that the genetically modified food industry has had a bit of an image problem. Selling "Frankenfood", as it is charmingly described in sections of the press, to the British public has certainly proved a challenge. Claims about improved pest- resistance and higher yields leave us cold. We can live without the non-mushy tomato that thus far represents the pinnacle of the industry's consumable achievements.

So, the GM scientists must have thought they were on to a real winner when they came up with a way, albeit not yet perfected, of growing tea and coffee plants that are naturally deficient in caffeine. This is certainly an astonishingly impressive technical achievement. But perhaps someone should gently point out to the lab-coated men and women in the hothouses that "decaf" tea and coffee is already plentiful on the supermarket shelves.

We look forward to the next genetically modified wonder-products. Alcohol-free whisky? Nicotine-less cigarettes? Chocolate denuded of that special ingredient that can make it better than sex?

They may, like decaffeinated coffee, be pointless, but at least they haven't been done before. We can't wait.