kentiopsis

Spotted this Star newspaper in Malaysia. The concept seems similar to that of "Golden Rice." Maybe I missed it, but the article doesn't seem to discuss how it tastes or whether people are likely to accept it as part of their diet. USDA plant explorer in the early 20th century, David Fairchild, was constantly frustrated in his efforts to introduce new foods into the America because people simply didn't want to change what they ate.

'Super' banana to face first human trial - Regional | The Star Online

PR-Giants

Thanks

Pancrazio

Yes. Those bananas already exists. Now, if they want to profit on people in Africa trough the patent system, they apparently are allowed to, but for sure there wasn't a need for tropical banana rich in vitamin A.

__________________


Italian fruit forum

trebor

Hmmmm Professor James Dale is from Queensland Australia he works at the university. And since 2005 he and his group have been playing with bananas! Backed by Bill Gates funding.. OK all that sounds fine a university prof experimenting with plants. But its only been 9 years sinse this project has begun ? How many crops has he grown in 9 years ? 7 maybe 8? And so next he sends some to USA for a 6 week trial. I guess we all are going to constantly be exposed to this QUICKIE science as time rolls by. How about we send some seed and tools to every village in A 1000 square mile area in Africa or any other content.. Help people to grow food plants that are found in their area. They could grow Greens easily! Other plants with vitamin A in them that grow faster and are more abundant. And yes bananas also! This Quickie science is going to come back and kick the human race in its Genetic Modified A$$ one day in the future! I say we need 10 years of positive results in a controlled environment.. Ten more years of results on control groups before we release this on the human race.
I guess back when the world started using pesticides these same mined people said “We are saving the world through pesticides”

__________________


If ya can't eat it, it ain't growing in my back yard !

wolfyhound

If the people are used to growing the bananas and will grow a newer variety that's richer in vitamin A, then good. Vitamen A deficiency is a wicked terrible thing to have happening to kids. Considering how bananas propagate, once they have some, they wouldn't need to continue getting more "patented" bananas, since they still clone themselves.

Pancrazio

But to propagate a patented plant without permits is forbidden. And a patent holder usually don't care if you do it for eating, selling or whatever reason. They are CEOs and are supposed to do the interest of shareholders, otherwise they lose their jobs.

To this date, I don't recall many instances where GMO patents have been gifted to people in need to help them with their food supplies.

Well if they want to help the poor, instead of creating a new GMO banana with added vitamin A, why they don't create a program to import and acclimate australimusa in africa? This would be truly a great thing to do. Will increase crop diversity, and solve the problem of vitamin A.... but australimusa aren't patented. Too bad. They can't make money on them.... so, who cares?

__________________


Italian fruit forum

robguz24

Fe'i are finicky and have a more limited range of climates they do well in. They are also totally different than other bananas and plantains and are less likely to be acceptable to a given population.

Golden Rice is one example where the plan is for it to be given away. GMO papaya here in Hawaii saved the papaya industry, was funded by taxpayers and was given to whoever wanted it for free.

GM is just a technology and not some huge evil. Like any other technology it holds great promise and is not inherently something done solely for profit and control of food production. As for not being able to patent a plant, there are many millions of people around the world making their livings off plants that aren't patented. Dole bananas aren't patented, they're Williams. So is nobody making money off them?

__________________
My micro-farm

Stay on my Big Island banana farm cottage

PR-Giants

The sweet potato is a traditional crop in Africa & their sweet potato has an even higher Vit. A content.

1 oz of a normal sweet potato 5381 IU

adult daily requirement 5000 IU

child daily requirement 3300 IU



1 oz of a Cavendish banana 18 IU

Nicolas Naranja

Hua Moa bananas have quite a bit more beta carotene than a regular banana, as do Pisang Raja.

__________________
Some people go bananas, I went plantains.

Kat2

The article mentioned A but also other trace elements. Perhaps sweet potatoes lack those? It also mentioned cooking bananas (plantains?); if they're expecting someone accustomed to those to switch to "Chiquitas" that could be an issue.

I'm not against GMOs per se--it's still a plant, right? Science is part of our lives. But I do have a problem with making poor people dependent on paying royalties for super plants. If I were farming on a large scale, I might purchase RU ready corn seeds in order to stay competitive but, since I only grow veggies for myself and someday a few others again if I ever master FL dirt and seasons, I'm content to save my own seeds from my best fruits/accept spares from friends which means my plants cost nothing save my labor. (I've actually checked out propagating patented plants; it doesn't appear the exercise is particularly onerous but you do have to keep good records if you're going to be honest. I've been checking on blackberries which are about 20 cents each--cheap but I, like my supplier, would pass the cost on to my customers when I sold plants. I wouldn't be paying that annually for the parent plants which, unlike bananas, are technically the same plant forever and not a new pup.)

__________________

PR-Giants

Plantains have quite a bit more beta carotene than a Hua Moa, but both still have very little compared to a sweet potato.

I can't imagine anyone eating 45 lbs of Hua Moas every week for their Vit A.

Sweet potato - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kat2

Sweet potatoes are really cool. I have yet to grow and harvest them successfully--I should have taken that tuber sitting on the ground when I was in Jville but kept waiting for it to grow and it rotted. You can eat the leaves; I haven't yet but plan to try them someday. (Finally something they don't say tastes like chicken so I'm game.)

But I'm still mystified about what other trace minerals a banana (cooking or otherwise) offer that sweet potato tubers or vines don't. Or even weeds. (If you haven't tried dandelion buds sautéed in butter you're missing out!)

There must be a reason they're pushing bananas for nutrition; I'd hate to think it's a plot to further impoverish these people. I've seen several articles about this and am not going to reread the one posted but Bill Gates' foundation is involved with this. Can't be another Windows thing, can it?

__________________

Pancrazio

Probably I'm not able to make my point in a clear simple way, i guess because I'm not really much proficient with english.

I'm not saying that GM is an huge evil. I'm not against GM "because they can be dangerous to human health" and so on.
But what I'm against is the way patents and GM are developed now. Specifically, I'm against huge economical interest entwined to scientific research.

When you say "papaya research was funded by taxpayers and given away for free" I do say "wondeful, that's how things should be". When i see a huge company patenting important crops i can avoid to ask myself "what is happening?".

Even if golden rice is given away for free, once is widespread, what happens if the company holding the patents changes idea? What happens to the previous biodiversity? From several strains of rice to just one? We on bananas should know the dangers of monoculture.
And if a new disease hits the golden rice what are the companies going to do? GMO once again?

Maybe I'm a bit harsh; i'm sorry for that. I have seen several attempt of the gmo lobby to reduce my capability to choose the food i want to eat trying to pass bills in the european parliament less restrictive on food labels, and now I'm a bit mad at them.

__________________


Italian fruit forum

Kat2

Not everyone on the islands likes the GMO papayas. Search for "GMO papayas Hawaii destroyed" and see that not all residents are pleased with the program.

BTW, you did fine with your "english"; I could never do more than post something in dBase or Perl if my life depended on it. Ciao is about my limit in Italian. All romance languages get jumbled with what little French and Spanish I remember from school. Abiento and merci come to mind most frequently. De nada seems like a very thankless thank you to me.

__________________

robguz24

Trust me I am more than aware of it, living in the main papaya producing area in the state. There are lots of anti-science kooks out there, and that's who most of the displeased are. The organic growers have a small complaint in that about 1% of organic papaya gets cross contaminated, but it impacts the seeds and is not in the fruit itself, but these growers should get seed from controlled sources anyway because the seeds from any papaya aren't necessarily true to type. They recently put forth legislation that would imprison anyone who grew these transgenic papaya. It only got 1 vote from the nut who introduced it. Oh, and Roseanne Barr is against it too in case you're wondering, lol. There's an interesting read on it here. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/us...bout-gmos.html

It's now the law here that even if TR4 Panama Disease gets here one would face heavy fines for growing a GM banana even if it simply had genes from another naturally resistant banana. Anti-science lunacy at its worst. 2 lawsuits have been filed against our County to overturn the law.

The papaya contains parts of the ringspot virus rendering it immune to the virus itself, much like a vaccine. Anyone consuming non-GMO papaya is also consuming ringspot virus, but the whole virus, not just the bits incorporated into the papaya's genome. Even anti-GMO Michael Pollan has conceded there is nothing wrong with it during a recent debate at UC Berkeley. There is a very large paranoid conspiracy theorist contingent in this part of the state. They conflate the GMO papaya with Monsanto and other companies, even though none of those companies have or have ever expressed any interest in setting up so much as an office on the Big Island.

__________________
My micro-farm

Stay on my Big Island banana farm cottage

Kat2

Hey, I'm not saying GMO is bad and haven't. Just mentioning that there are detractors where it was taxpayer sanctioned. Carry on! (I can't sing the Star Spangled Banner either; I cast no stones.)

__________________

robguz24

Sorry, my crabbiness wasn't directed at you, and sorry if it came off that way.

I just constantly read about this issue locally and almost never hear an intelligent argument from those opposed to the papaya.

__________________
My micro-farm

Stay on my Big Island banana farm cottage

Kat2

Golly, gee, I didn't take it that way at all. I'm sure it's a very emotional issue there and, since that's your home, you have a dog in this fight or at the least an opinion. Which I don't.

__________________

trebor

LOOK in two days on this forum we find a alternative to GMO bananas in Africa .Sweet potato. Without any animosity towards the people who grow and sell GMO banana plants you guys figured it out.

__________________


If ya can't eat it, it ain't growing in my back yard !

PR-Giants