March 2011 NHC NEWS A Monthly Bulletin of the Northwest Horticultural Council GE   The Northwest Horticultural Council has taken a position in opposition to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s approval of a current petition for nonregulated status for two genetically engineered (GE) varieties of apples, both developed by Okanagan Specialty Fruits, Inc. of Summerland, British Columbia, Canada. This policy decision was made by our trustees after a careful balance, taking into account potential customer concerns, of benefits and risks to the existing commercial apple industry of the Pacific Northwest.  In the end, the projected benefits of the non-browning apples did not outweigh the marketing harm likely to occur to apple growers and marketers, whether traditional or organic. It is not the belief of the Northwest Horticultural Council that any human food safety issue exists with the proposed GE apples.  Further, the NHC supports continued genetics and genomics research and is open to supporting future petitions to USDA for nonregulated status should benefits of an application clearly supersede potential marketing risks. The NHC also recognizes the essential differences between GE technology as used by the applicant for the non-browning apples in question and advanced work now under way in support of plant-breeding objectives at many research universities and as sponsored by the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission.  The latter scientific efforts are clearly endorsed by the Northwest Horticultural Council. ♦ CPMA The Northwest Horticultural Council joined the Canadian Produce Marketing Association, based in Ottawa, Canada, some years ago.  Membership in CPMA provides us a communications link with one of the most important export markets for our industry’s apples, pears, and cherries. While the regular information on regulations and laws effecting produce marketed to Canada we receive from CPMA is useful, our primary involvement with CPMA is with its North American Trade Committee.  Mark Powers, vice president of the NHC, is a member of this important policy committee. The most recent meeting of the North American Trade Committee was last month in Washington, D.C.  Aside from such issues as food safety, border inspections, and bankruptcy protections, this meeting provided an opportunity to honor Danny Dempster, president of CPMA, who first came to work with that trade association in 1977.  Mr. Dempster has been a close and valued colleague of the NHC and will be missed. ♦ MATH “The ability to conceive strange, unintuitive concepts like ‘twoness’ and ‘zero fish’ and ‘negative 10 pebbles’ lies at the heart of mathematics.  Above all else, mathematics is the art of abstraction.  It is one thing to see two apples on the ground next to three apples.  It is something else to grasp the universal rule that 2 + 3 = 5.”  The Clockwork Universe: Isaac Newtown, the Royal Society and the Birth of the Modern World by Edward Dolnick. ♦ Travel   March 17 – NHC Science Advisory Committee meeting, Yakima, Washington. March 29 – NHC Foreign Trade Committee meeting, Yakima, Washington. Travel Christian Schlect March 10-13 – United States Apple Association’s spring committee and board meetings, Washington, D.C. Deborah Carter February 28-March 4 – University of California’s workshop on Advanced Topics in Microbial Safety of Fresh Produce, Davis, California. March 15-16 – Meeting of Produce GAP Harmonization Technical Working Group, Raleigh, North Carolina. Mike Willett March 1 – International Fruit Tree Association orchard tour, Pasco, Washington. At dinner to press men which I attended Mr. Byrnes told the press that if it was to play part of William Tell in criticizing internal policies of Administration, it must be careful in shooting at apple not to kill its own child… Washington Despatches 1941-45: Weekly Political Reports from the British Embassy Northwest Horticultural Council 105 South 18th Street, Suite 105 Yakima, Washington 98901, USA Voice: (509) 453-3193, Fax: (509) 457-7615 E-mail general@nwhort.org