Letter: Modified tomatoes

Saturday 28 March 1998 01:02 GMT

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ZENECA has given evidence to the Government's advisory committee on genetic modification that "the intense heat used in peeling and then sterilising GMO tomatoes kills any seeds and effectively destroys the antibiotic resistance" (19 March).

Heat will certainly kill a living plant but will it really destroy the kanamycin resistance genes inserted into every cell of these fruit? DNA is tough stuff and is very resistant to heat degradation - life wouldn't have been around so long if the substance which makes it happen fell to bits so easily.

I would like to be more certain that the Government's advisory committee is requiring independent validation of the unlikely evidence submitted by Zeneca.

JOANNA CLARKE

Glasgow

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