Syngenta recently decided to withdraw the patent the breeder had on a specific tomato variety. Not because the patent request was refused by the European Patent Office, but on the company's own request, after it turned out that the variety wasn't interesting enough commercially, according to Hanneke Verhelst of Syngenta.
The variety was high in flavonoids, which reportedly has special health benefits. The genes responsible for this trait originate in a wild variety from Peru and Chile, and were crossbred into the new variety in a natural way. Genetic modification didn't come into it.
For more information:
Syngenta
www.syngenta.nl
Hanneke Verhelst
Hanneke.verhelst@syngenta.com