ARTICLE: Tropical Gardening: Are GMOs Good or Bad?

The following is an excerpt of an article posted by Norman Bezona of the University of Hawaii's College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources to the Hawaii Herald Tribune explaining how GMO technology has helped save the papaya. 

The answer to the questions posed in the above headline depends on how the technology is used.

The issue of genetically modified plants or animals is very complex as is any new technology. Actually, the GMO issue is just a new twist on what we humans have done for centuries.

By hybridizing, creating and selecting advantageous mutations, we created thousands of varieties of orchids, citrus, bananas and many other plants. Because it is a great leap of this technology, we tend to be wary and that is good.

Farmers need to have the opportunity to choose if they want to grow their crops organically or with safe use of pesticides or GMO-free as long as consumers know what we are buying. At the very least, foods should be labeled GMO or not GMO so we have a choice.

Let’s take a look at just one example.

Papayas have been valuable food and medicinal plants throughout the tropical world. In the early 1950s, a devastating disease called papaya ring spot mosaic wiped out the papaya industry in Florida and many areas of tropical America, including the Caribbean. Later, the disease hit Hawaii.

Luckily, some scientists were working on the problem and developed a genetically modified papaya that is resistant to the mosaic virus. Today, we can grow papaya plants in regions previously infested with the virus thanks to those efforts.

To read the entire article, please visit the Hawaii Herald Tribune.