The Biodiversity Risks of GMOs

Ecuador, surrounded by larger countries, has very few things that the world requires as exports, but the banana industry supports an incredible amount of the population directly and indirectly. Ecuador is the largest exporter of bananas in the world, coming before the Philippines, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Colombia, and most of the produce goes straight to the U.S. The increase in banana exports has been a great aid to the Ecuadorian economy after the problems caused by the recession and dollarization in the 1990s and 2000s.

Unfortunately, this booming industry is now facing a fungus that could destroy the livelihoods of many small Ecuadorian farmers. The serious disease, named TR4, risks a variety of banana that account for "95% of global export market for the fruit" (livetradingnews.com). This specific variety was chosen as most popular because of its resistance to the Panama Disease. The new disease is quickly spreading through all banana farms throughout Asia, the Middle East, and Africa and has yet to reach Central or South America. Ecuador has yet to declare what preventative measures they are taking, which poses the question of what will the government and farmers do if or when the disease reaches the country?Although the banana industry has faced disease emergency's in the past, none have had as great of consequences as this one might.

Currently, there is no known cure or treatment for the fungus once it has infected a field. The only option is to isolate the infected trees. The fungus remains in and on the soil for over 10 years, meaning that the area would be unusable for banana production. The specific variety of banana, called Cavendish bananas, was originally genetically modified to prevent the Panama Disease (Fusarium) already mentioned. Now, a majority of the bananas produced are Cavendish bananas that also happen to be the most affected by TR4. GMOs can be used to improve food safety and security all over the world, but they also limit the ecological biodiversity within the crop varieties, leading to the current banana crisis.

How can we prevent such catastrophes with genetically modified crops from happening in the future while still finding solutions to food security?


http://www.fao.org/economic/worldbananaforum/fusarium-tr4/en/#.VCyMrCldXPY

http://www.livetradingnews.com/fungus-threatens-banana-supply-2-73872.htm#.VCyHpyldXPY