For Dow, the award symbolizes more than just an invention. Corson tells C&EN that it represents the company's future R&D approach. He points out that Dow is now focusing its entire business strategy on breakthrough technologies such as Insite, so that R&D is now business driven rather than research driven. To pursue the Insite development, he says, Dow devised a parallel approach. For example, market research—such as determining appropriate segments to target with products—proceeded simultaneously with the technology's development. So, too, did development of business strategy. For example, Dow decided to convert existing polyethylene trains rather than build new plants (one conversion has been made in Freeport, with a second under consideration). Dow also decided to take the historically unusual approach of launching the products globally, rather than concentrating first on North America or Europe. To reflect these activities, the polyolefins organization was restructured at the outset to maximize resources. The parallel approach paid off. As Knight notes, "We took a huge t a s k commercializing the technology and products—which normally would require seven to 10 years," and "accomplished it in less than three." James Krieger
FDA gives go-ahead to bioengineered tomato The Food & Drug Administration has given the green light to Calgene's genetically engineered "Flavr Savr" tomato—the first whole food produced by biotechnology that will reach U.S. consumers. With the go-ahead, activist groups are stepping up their campaigns against genetically engineered foods. Meanwhile, biotechnology and fruit and vegetable marketing organizations have expressed their support. Calgene, an agricultural biotechnology company headquartered in Davis, Calif., genetically engineered the tomato through insertion of a reverse, or antisense, version of a tomato gene for polygalacturonase (PG). PG is an enzyme that degrades pectin, resulting in fruit softening. Blocking PG's activity extends the shelf life of tomatoes, allowing them to ripen on the vine before shipping—
IBM multilayer optical discs hold billions of bytes Kurt A. Rubin of IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif., holds five optical discs containing billions of bytes of data, made possible by packing two or more layers into each disc. IBM expects the multilayer discs to have a huge impact. Rubin is a coinventor of the multilevel discs, produced by stacking two or more recording surfaces (consisting of a dye polymer) on top of each other. Spacers provide a gap between the recording surfaces. Data can be stored on any surface within the
improving their flavor—rather than being picked green. Since PG occurs naturally in tomatoes, FDA's evaluation focused largely on Calgene's use of a bacterial marker gene, kanr—which confers resistance to the antibiotic kanamycin—as an indicator of successful genetic transformations. In its May 18 decision, FDA says the Flavr Savr tomato is as safe as tomatoes grown conventionally. It has issued a new food additive regulation allowing use of the kanr marker gene that also clears the way for Calgene's genetically engineered cotton and rapeseed (C&EN, March 14, page 18). Calgene, not FDA, was first to seek an agency advisory opinion on kanr in late 1990. A company request for review of the tomato followed in August 1991, and a formal food additive petition for kan r was filed in early 1993. In late
stack, not just on one surface as in current optical discs. A specific surface can be selected for writing or reading data by focusing a laser beam on that surface. The multilevel design calls for use of partially transparent materials. At current optical data storage densities, a 10-layer disc (shown in a mockup, above) would store some 6.5 billion bytes of information— equivalent to more than a million pages of printed text. This would permit several feature-length movies to be stored as high-resolution digital video on a single compact disc. So far, Rubin and coworkers have shown that data can be written and/or read on two-, four-, and six-layer discs with signalto-noise quality expected in consumer products. They believe this approach can be extended to many more layers. But team leader Hal J. Rosen tells C&EN he cannot predict when the discs will reach market because economic, legal, and other nontechnical issues are also involved. Ron Dagani
1992, the Department of Agriculture already had concluded Calgene's tomato did not require further USDA permits or approvals. FDA does not require special labeling or review unless an altered food changes in nutritional value or in potential toxins or allergens. "We have approached our review of this product with scientific rigor and a commitment to full, public disclosure of that science," says FDA commissioner David A. Kessler. "Consumers can be confident that we remain committed to assuring that foods produced by genetic engineering are as safe as food in our grocery stores today." Roger H. Salquist, Calgene's chief executive officer, says the company sought FDA review to assure consumers that the safety, nutritional value, and other tomato characteristics had MAY 23,1994 C&EN
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