At the moment, producing organic wine from genetically modified vines or grapes is not permitted, nor is it desired, and is presumably in the long run unthinkable.
In the remote future, it might be possible to dispense with chemical fungicides in conventional viniculture, fungicides which can cause cancer or are suspected of causing cancer. Even copper sulfate, which acts externally and is used in organic winegrowing, is harmful to the soil and thus the ground water as well.
The Chinese researcher Yuejin Wang, who works at the Yanling Forestry University (source: New Scientist) discovered that a wild Chinese vine contains 6 times more resveratrol than conventional grapes. Resveratrol not only made headlines recently as the key to a long life with its anticarcinogenic and cardioprotective effects, it also protects many plants, vines as well, against dreaded fungus and mildew such as powdery mildew and downy mildew (Oidium and Peronospora). However the amounts present in most varietals are not sufficient to protect them permanently against fungus.
By isolating the Vitus pseudoreticulata gene, which is the reason for the high resveratrol content, in the wild grapevine, and by transferring this to "normal" grapevines (vitis vinifera), it might be possible in the future to plant genetically modified vines in conventional and in organic viniculture which initially seems to provide a lot of advantages: fewer chemicals in viniculture, less environmental pollution, a higher resveratrol content in red wine particularly which would increase the positive effects on health in every respect. However, the consequences of genetically modified agricultural production have not yet been studied as a whole.
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1 Kommentar:
Good point, though sometimes it's hard to arrive to definite conclusions
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