Success of independently funded GMO papaya confounds anti-tech ideologues
by Anthony Shelton, Genetic Literacy Project, March 30, 2015
Click on chapters below to start reading the article:
- Tropical hurricane ‘Anti-GE Papaya’ hits Hawaii
- Storm victims, Ross Sibucao and other smallholder farmers
- Enter Hawaiian papaya scientist, Dennis Gonsalves
- BB guns, intellectual property and the road to commercialization
- When local politics trumps science and farmers
- The organized but ill-informed opposition
- The hurricane gathers force
- Where’s the science?
- GE facts, fiction and fear
- Few win, many lose
- Path of destruction and collateral damage
- A ‘Rainbow’ ending?
- Current update on the status of GM papaya in Hawaii
Read full, original article: Hawaiian Papaya: Collateral Damage in the Global Debate on Biotechnology
Hawaii’s Big Island has banned or severely limited the farming of genetically engineered (GE or GM) crops, including a papaya developed by a native Hawaiian to resist a devastating virus disease. The battle over GE crops and the law enacted in Hawaii is a microcosm of the global fight determining the future of GE crops.
This 12-part series by entomologist Anthony Shelton is the first comprehensive article about a genetically engineered crop, in this case, GE papaya in Hawaii. The story describes the virus disease outbreak, the development of virus-resistant GE papaya, small-scale farmers who adopted it, the emergence of the opposition and their takeover of the democratic process, the scientist who developed the technology, and the future of GE crops.
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