Scientists in New Zealand and Japan have developed a tear-free onion, switching off the enzyme that makes people cry when the onion gets cut.

The research institute in New Zealand, Crop and Food, hopes that the onion-making breakthrough could lead to a prototype onion being developed in a decade's time.

According to Colin Eady, the institute's senior scientist, the project began in 2002 after Japanese scientists successfully found the gene responsible for producing the tearing agent. Apparently, the tearing agent was controlled by an enzyme. They were able to turn off the tear-inducing gene in the onion, keeping it from producing the enzyme and thus keeping the onion from bringing people to tears.

Eady also noted that there was a possibility that they could convert the sulphur compounds related to the tearing agent and redirect them into compounds responsible for flavor and health, potentially increasing the flavor of the modified onion. "What we're hoping is that we'll essentially have a lot of the nice, sweet aromas associated with onions without that associated bitter, pungent, tear-producing factor," mentions Eady.

Despite the excitement behind the no-tears onion, it'll be 10 to 15 years before no-tears onions could reach the home. They're currently developing methods to efficiently produce the genetically-modified onion, as well as producing more robust crops.