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Agricultural
biotechnology and plant genetic engineering remain
the most controversial areas of plant biology. The
goal of this project is to increase the public’s
understanding of genetic engineering of plants through
a series of magazine style articles geared towards
the lay reader, in addition to a project website.
The articles will be based on farmer interviews and
qualitative research in papaya-producing countries,
and will address the controversy over genetic engineering
by using virus-resistant papaya as a model. This
project is part of a novel Ph.D. dissertation in
the plant sciences.
The project was initiated by investigating the story
of the GE papaya in Hawaii, where the transgenic variety “Rainbow” has
been commercially grown and consumed for eight years.
For the next stage of research, a similar approach
will be employed to investigate the controversies in
developing countries where GE papaya is being developed
or is ready to be implemented. Four countries have
been thoughtfully chosen as sites for a twelve-month,
field oriented exploration of GE papaya: Thailand,
Bangladesh, Australia and Mexico.
Through interviews with a broad spectrum of stakeholders,
three primary questions will be addressed: 1) What
is the perceived need for GE papaya in these countries?
2) To what degree do farmers with limited education
versus more educated NGO activists understand the technology
and its potential consequences such as pollen flow,
biosafety and food safety concerns? 3) What are the
economic concerns and ideological issues raised by
farmers and other stakeholders? Most significantly,
through homestays in rural villages where papaya is
an important food staple, the needs and viewpoints
of subsistence farmers will be collected in a qualitative
way to effectively bring their voices forth to publications
read by the general public.
Genetically engineered (GE) papaya ringspot virus
(PRSV)-resistant papaya and the controversy it provokes,
was chosen as the focus of this project because it
is a unique case of applying genetic engineering to
plants. It is arguable that the papaya, which has been
genetically engineered to resist infection by PRSV,
will serve as an important test case for genetically
modified food crops in developing countries. The
story of GE papaya is novel because papaya is a small-scale,
horticultural "orphan crop." It has lacked the
research dollars that benefit major agronomically important
crops and was produced not by a large multi-national
corporation, but with public funds granted to university
researchers to benefit small farmers. In
most tropical countries the papaya is not a major commodity,
but is grown in backyard "kitchen gardens" by rural
poor. It is not commonly eaten in a processed form,
as are GE corn and soy, but as a whole fruit, rendering
it a true test of consumer acceptance. The strategy
used to create the PRSV-resistant papaya, termed coat
protein mediated resistance, is distinct from herbicide
or pesticide producing engineered crops and should
be evaluated on its unique merits.
Although the Puna district of Hawaii has largely experienced
a revival of their papaya industry since the introduction
of GE papaya in 1998, the success of other countries'
efforts have been thwarted by GMO- opposition groups
and wavering political will. Opposition groups
such as Greenpeace and local non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) are focused on stopping the papaya from getting
through the deregulation process because they fear
this will open the door to other genetically modified
crops. They see this as a threat to the safety of the
world's food supply. Large biotech multinationals
are focused on the papaya for the same reasons. If
the transgenic papaya is deregulated, it paves the
way for them to introduce their own products to these
new markets. Thus, PRSV-resistant papaya is
viewed as a "gateway crop," and stakeholders are eagerly
waiting to see what happens in countries such as Thailand
and the Phillipines. As a part of an interdisciplinary
academic program in the Field of Plant Biology at Cornell
University, I am examining the controversy surrounding
the deployment and adoption of GE papaya in Hawaii
and abroad.
Precedent in Hawaii
In 1978 researcher Dennis Gonsalves met with the Dean
of Agriculture at the University of Hawaii who was
worried about a ticking time bomb in Hilo: the papaya
ring spot virus (PRSV). The same virus had decimated
the papaya industry on Oahu, pushing it to the big
island only a decade or two earlier. Now it was lurking
in backyards in Hilo- just 19 miles away from the Puna
district of Hawaii where 95% of Hawaii's papaya are
produced. Hawaii's second most important fruit crop
was under threat as insects spread the virus to susceptible
acres of papaya stands.
The story of the subsequent decades of research to
find a solution for Hawaii's papaya farmers caught
the attention of researchers in developing countries
such as Thailand and Bangladesh, who were struggling
with their own versions of the virus. Frustrated by
the persistence of the virus through earlier attempts
to control it, Gonsalves turned towards the novel tools
of genetic engineering. The team moved quickly to develop
the first transgenic line in 1991. In 1992,
PRSV was devastating commercial papaya production in
Puna. That same year, the team concluded the
first field trials to confirm that their original transgenic
line was resistant to PRSV. They used this original
line to develop the "Rainbow" variety, a GE hybrid
that is extremely resistant to PRSV and allowed Hawaiian
farmers to begin growing papaya again.
In 1995 a major field trial was undertaken to test
the resistance of Rainbow. The fruit was found
to be of high quality and high yield. Later
that year the deregulation process was initiated and
three years later, the Hawaii Papaya Administrative
Committee obtained the licenses to commercialize transgenic
papaya in Hawaii. Seeds were distributed to
growers, and today approximately half of the papaya
produced in Puna is genetically enginnered.
In the meantime, the Gonsalves laboratory became a
destination for papaya researchers from all over the
developing world, including Thailand, Brazil, Bangladesh,
and Jamaica. With each papaya-producing country
plagued by its own form of the virus, researchers went
to Gonsalves to study their locally relevant version
of the virus and produce a transgenic papaya for their
own country's struggling farmers.
The Thai collaborators were not far behind the early
success in Hawaii, with the first transgenic lines
ready to return to Thailand in 1997. Bangladesh
and others would follow in subsequent years.
A Political Storm in Thailand (link on papaya
page that links to following text)
Although the Puna district of Hawaii has largely experienced
a complete revival of its papaya industry, the success
of other countries' efforts has been thwarted by GMO-
opposition groups and wavering political will.
Until August of 2004, progress towards controlling
the disease in Thailand was significant. Large
fields trials were underway when Greenpeace brought
the issue to the media's attention during a July 2004
protest.
The Thai government, under pressure from the press
following the event, banned all field trials and ordered
all trees to be destroyed and properly disposed of
to prevent contamination and seed dissemination. The
unfolding of the events of 2004 has brought research
on transgenic PRSV resistant papaya to standstill in
Thailand.
Thailand is a country where the majority of the papaya
produced is consumed domestically. In northeast
Thailand papaya is eaten in traditional dishes three
times daily; it is an important food staple and a critical
source of nutrition. With increasing difficulties
cultivating papaya due to the virus and the increasing
need to ship papaya from other areas of the country,
many poor Thai people no longer have access to this
important food crop.
Thailand is at a critical juncture in deciding whether
or not it will permit the production of transgenic
papaya as a means to overcome PRSV. In press
released early in December 2005, Adisak Sreesungpagit,
chief of Thailand's Agriculture Department, announced
that he planned to ask the cabinet to lift the ban
on field trials of GM crops in Thailand after a group
of northeastern farmers urged the department to ask
the government to review its ban on GM crops in light
of the need for alternative technology to control PRSV.
Further
Reading:
Gonsalves, D., C. Gonsalves, S. Ferreira, K. Pitz,
M. Fitch, R. Manshardt, and J. Slightom, Transgenic
Virus Resistant Papaya: From Hope to Reality
for Controlling Papaya Ringspot Virus in Hawaii. APSnet
Features, July-August 2004.
Available from:
http://www.apsnet.org/online/feature/ringspot/default.asp
Gonsalves, C., D. Lee, and D. Gonsalves, Transgenic
Virus-Resistant Papaya: The Hawaiian 'Rainbow'
was Rapidly Adopted by Farmers and is of Major Importance
in Hawaii Today. APSnet Features,
August-September 2004.
Available from:
http://www.apsnet.org/online/feature/rainbow/print.asp
Greenpeace. GMO Papaya Scandal in Thailand- Illegal
GMO seeds found in packages sold by Department of
Agriculture. July 27, 2004.
Available
from:
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/releases/gmo-papaya-scandal-in-thailand.
BioThai, Information Section. Declaration on Biodiversity
Protection and Local People's Rights in Asia with
Regards to Genetic Engineering (GE and Intellectual
Property Rights (IPR). Dec 11, 2003.
Available
from:
http://www.biothai.org/cgi-bin/content/gmo/show.pl?0002.
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