![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
So much for taking a stand
Oct. 19th, 2012 22:48I just had an interesting cycle of events.
( Inspiration, action, consequence, disillusionment )
A tidbit of less personal, but positive, news: A virus-resistant (transgenic) strain of cassava has been developed just in time to save that staple crop from what the BBC reported as an epidemic of Cassava Brown-Streak Disease sweeping across Africa. This is similar to making papayas resistant to Papaya Ringspot Virus in the mid-1990s. (Did you know that the vast majority of papayas grown in Hawaii are transgenic? Now you do.) It could save millions of Africans from famine, and the researchers want to pass on the technology to labs in Africa. Hopefully, by making the transformation process more transparent and accessible, they will avoid what happened with the GMO papaya strain. That was a bright spot in my day.
( Inspiration, action, consequence, disillusionment )
A tidbit of less personal, but positive, news: A virus-resistant (transgenic) strain of cassava has been developed just in time to save that staple crop from what the BBC reported as an epidemic of Cassava Brown-Streak Disease sweeping across Africa. This is similar to making papayas resistant to Papaya Ringspot Virus in the mid-1990s. (Did you know that the vast majority of papayas grown in Hawaii are transgenic? Now you do.) It could save millions of Africans from famine, and the researchers want to pass on the technology to labs in Africa. Hopefully, by making the transformation process more transparent and accessible, they will avoid what happened with the GMO papaya strain. That was a bright spot in my day.
