On the contray, purple tomatoes are no hybrids that have been genetically modified. They are heirloom tomatoes from naturally occurring cultivars. Here’s what the wiki says about purple tomatoes: “Cherokee Purple – One of the very first known “black”, or deep dusky rose colored cultivars that are becoming so popular. Named in 1990 by Craig LeHoullier, who received seeds of an unnamed cultivar in the mail from J. D. Green of Tennessee. Mr. Green indicated that the “purple” tomato cultivar was given by the Cherokee Indians to his neighbor “100 years ago”. Related to Cherokee Purple are Cherokee Chocolate (which resulted from a clear to yellow skin color single plant mutation of Cherokee Purple in Craig’s garden in 1995) and Cherokee Green (which emerged from Cherokee Chocolate, also in Craig’s garden, in 1997, and appears to be a flesh color mutation). Both are equally fine flavored, high yielding varieties, but are not strictly heirlooms.”