Banana crops are under threat from a deadly fungal disease
I saw this on the news last night, and wanted to warn people about it. When I heard it I was in near disbelief, and so I checked it out online, and what is written below is what I found.
Banana crops are under threat from a deadly fungal disease.
Alice-Azania Jarvis looks into the rise - and potential fall - of Britain's favourite fruit
There are several thousand types of banana around the world, though we only tend to eat one. The Cavendish. First grown in the Chatsworth greenhouse of the William Cavendish, sixth Duke of Devonshire, and catapulted into the mass market during the 1940s, the Cavendish accounts for 99 per cent of international consumption.
Unfortunately, the Cavendish is in danger. Tropical Race 4, a fungus which has already destroyed acres of crops across Taiwan, Indonesia and Malaysia, is threatening the plantations of South and Central America. With the ability to linger in soil for decades, the prospect of a Race 4 outbreak in what is now the banana hub of the world could be catastrophic – both for plantation owners who depend on the fruit for their income and for consumers, who would see an entire foodstuff wiped out until further notice.
What a change that would be. In the UK, we munch more than five billion bananas per year. Since the mid-1980s, consumption has increased by more than 300 per cent, making us one of Europe's largest consumers of the fruit.
I heard many years ago that bananas had a large chance of going extinct, because of the fact that they have no way of fighting new diseases that may emerge in the future. I was surprised to see how fast this became a reality.
Actually, this is not the first time this has happened. The reason we use the Cavendish is because the breed everyone used before that went extinct itself (in the 50s I think). The big reason why these bananas are so vulnerable is because they aren't able to seed, and are all clones of each other. So if a disease strikes, all the bananas will be equally vulnerable, with no beneficial mutations to protect them.
Na, they have the genome stored. Modify it to be anti-fungus for this particular fungus; problem solved and we all go back to eating our genetically modified (take that Kirk Cameron!) bananas in time.
are we really at that stage of genetic engineering?
like, I know it would be possible if there were another organism with the gene that could be implanted into the banana, but if there are no such organisms (which the scope of this fungus would suggest there aren't, imho), can we do that?
They could possibly find another plant that is resistant to that particular fungus and gene-swap that element in. Granted, negative affects could occur but people don't seem to mind as long as the product is [somewhat] tasty and cheap.
Bananas are a multi-billion dollar industry, it will not be allowed to go down the shitter.
It won't "go down the shitter", they will just start selling a different breed of bananas... this is not like the one indispensable banana or anything. It is not even the most used one worldwide. That 99% figure is totally wrong, the Plantain banana is way more popular.
Probably another type of banana would be the best bet. Though I do recall reading that some species of corn (at least in the US) has various genes from other sources; some not corn.
in terms of the research (not what is or has ever been available on the market) you can put genes from fish into vegetables and stuff like that, so it is totally possible...
I guess, ya, if there are other bananas that aren't impacted, it seems like an easy fix.
"The Daemon lied with every breath. It could not help itself but to deceive and dismay, to riddle and ruin. The more we conversed, the closer I drew to one singularly ineluctable fact: I would gain no wisdom here."
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Sep 8th, 2011 06:34 PM
