European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 8, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                It May taste like Vanilla but is it Vanilla by Andrew Pollack now York times Gifol its m san Carlos. Cam. Ire working on  1o produce inc Llesh of .1 Iresh Cherry without growing a Cherry tree already Hoy arc Nuru in re Vanilla Wilhour producing a Vanilla bean and they arc Ben on  Siangc puce without in  Mankind has Long in iffy on plants As sources of Llano songs. Far Frances. Dou a and Industrial Che Micah. Bul now it Sefl Conra say plants May no longer have to be grown and harvested to obtain such useful extracts rather they envision growing Colls from inc plants in fermentation vats or Laboi Alory flasks to produce Iho chemicals directly. Research has focused on materials As diverse As chocolate and Vanilla Chili Pepper a Lavonne anti cancer drugs and morphine. The attraction of such a technique is that it could free a food or drug company from dependence on plants some of which Are grown Only in a few locations. In Many cases of course companies already use artificial flavors and fragrances bul often the natural Havor is so Complex Hal scientists have no been Able to synthesize it. The Eswagen corp., situated at san Carlos on the outskirts of California s Silicon Valley is working on producing Vanilla mayor in cell culture. Natural Vanilla harvested from the Vanilla Orchid Hal is grown Only in Madagascar and a few Oluf countries is expensive and in Short Supply. Arli finial Vanilla while cheap contains Only one of the More than 150 components of natural Vanilla. Eswagen Hopes anal by using cells from Vanilla plants it will be Abla to produce Flavouring almost As Rich As natural Vanilla yet far lower in Price. Such technology however raises serious issues. If substances such As Cocoa butter for chocolate could be produced in factories from cells in could wipe out the exports of Many developing nations. We need to balance off the cheaper Price that we might be enjoying for our desserts and candies to real and expensive damage we May be doing to third world nations said Jack Kloppenburg jr., assistant professor of Rural sociology at the University of Wisconsin. The threat is not Idle. In Japan where tobacco is expensive a company began Selling cigarettes thai contained some tobacco tissue produced in cell culture. But japanese tobacco armours worried about Competition Prol sled and forced Iho company to Stop according to Donald Dougall research to Fessor of botany at the University of Tennessee and an editor of the journal Plant cell tissue and Organ culture. There Are regulatory questions As Well. Should products made from cell culture be considered foods which can be freely marketed or food additives which Are subject to much stricter regulation Are the Havers natural or artificial Eswagen or instance thinks its Vanilla will Quality As a natural flavor although not As natural Vanilla the company Hopes to sell ils Vanilla to companies that want to advertise that their products contain Only natural Ingi clients. Such questions however might not arise immediately try my to produce chemicals in Lissue culture has so tar proved More of a dream than a reality and Many attempts have ended in frustration at this Point Only one chemical is produced com socially this Way according to Dougall. Since 1963, a japanese company has produced Shi Konin a substance used As a red Dye in lipstick and also in some medicines another japanese company has announced plans 10 begin tissue culture production of Ginseng Lor us in herbal Leas and medicines. To produce Plant extract from cultures. Iho first task is to grow samples of the Plant m sterile conditions in the Laboratory this is acc Ebsary to make certain that there Are no bacteria 01 Oiler microorganisms on the cells until they Are taken or growth in the cultures microorganisms grow much faster than Plant cells and would overwhelm inc Plant new Yoa Cimfl photo a t the Eswagen corp. In California e scientist checks Vanilla celts growing in polymer beads in a flask. Cells in culture. The next Slep is to Lake cells irom the sterile Plant and put them in a flask with nutrients and hormones to make Iho cells multiply. Cells can be taken from roots or Flowers or other growing parts of the Plant though not All parts work equally Well growing plan cells in culture however is difficult it s a pretty traumatic Shock for 1ho title Guys to be removed from the tree and removed from the fruit said Brent Tisserat. A research geneticist Al the department of agriculture s fruit and vegetable chemistry Laboratory in Pasadena. Calif. Tisserat has succeeded in getting Orange and Lemon vesicles the Little sacs containing the juice to grow in culture and mature until they yield juice thai tastes close to the real thing. To said however that production of Orange juice without growing oranges was Stilt a Long Way of growing the cells is Only Ono Challenge a larger one is to activate Tho proper genes to get the cells to produce the desired chemical. Scientists try adding hormones and different Nul riels but there is no formula. Sometimes it does what you want and sometimes in looks up Al you and does  said John Slaba a professor at he University of Minnesota s College of pharmacy. Attempts to produce Cocoa Butler in tissue culture have largely been abandoned. Jules Janick professor of horticulture at Purdue University managed to gel embryos in culture to produce Butler. But inc Butler which is composed of Many components was different from Tho butter produced by More mature Cocoa Beans and  therefore not suitable for chocolate. It the cells can to induced to produce the needed chemical the next Slep is to commercialize Iho process. New Yolk to tip photo Vanilla Plant grown in sterile la Etta Are pan of research at Eica Gen corp. Lot obtaining Flavouring from cells. Saturday. August 8. 19b7 the stars and stripes Page 17