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Bye Bye Bananas — the Return of Panama Disease

Posted by kdawson on from the where-you-gonna-get-your-potassium dept.

Ant sends in a disturbing report in The Scientist on an imminent threat to worldwide banana production. "The banana we eat today is not the one your grandparents ate. That one — known as the Gros Michel — was, by all accounts, bigger, tastier, and hardier than the variety we know and love, which is called the Cavendish. The unavailability of the Gros Michel is easily explained: it is virtually extinct. Introduced to our hemisphere in the late 19th century, the Gros Michel was almost immediately hit by a blight that wiped it out by 1960. The Cavendish was adopted at the last minute by the big banana companies — Chiquita and Dole — because it was resistant to that blight, a fungus known as Panama disease... [Now] Panama disease — or Fusarium wilt of banana — is back, and the Cavendish does not appear to be safe from this new strain, which appeared two decades ago in Malaysia, spread slowly at first, but is now moving at a geometrically quicker pace. There is no cure, and nearly every banana scientist says that though Panama disease has yet to hit the banana crops of Latin America, which feed our hemisphere, the question is not if this will happen, but when. Even worse, the malady has the potential to spread to dozens of other banana varieties, including African bananas, the primary source of nutrition for millions..."

10 of 519 comments (clear)

  1. monoculture is a problem by circletimessquare · · Score: 5, Interesting

    but it is also solved by genetic variation. the story is a little hysterical, as african varieties are also genetically different enough to resist the new cavendish-hungry fungus. not that the african varieties can't be attacked, but the emphasis is on african VARIETIES: more genetic variation means more resistance to the weakness of monoculture

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:monoculture is a problem by Sockatume · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Actually, New Scientist did a story about this, maybe five years ago, which was worried about the bananas' genetic variation, but didn't have any specific threat attached. They pointed out that although the current banana plants is pretty hardy, they're cultivated by cloning, so there's very little capacity for adaptation there. I forget the details of the story, but it was something like "there may not be any bananas as we know them in 25 years". Now the threat actually exists...

      --
      No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    2. Re:monoculture is a problem by nospam007 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      That said, you are essentially right. All cavendish bananas are clones, this makes them very vulnerable to disease.

      and they taste like wet paper bags. I haven't eaten a Chiquita in over 10 years, I prefer any other which at least taste like a banana. Chiquitas were only bred for looks.

    3. Re:monoculture is a problem by BlackCreek · · Score: 5, Interesting
      And here is why I *never* *ever* buy Chiquita (new name for United Fruit Company) products: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Fruit_Company

      I find it funny how the wikipedia article on Chiquita just mentions the name change but none of the history it was meant to hide http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiquita_Brands_International

      At least now you slashdotters know how the expression banana republic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_republic came to be. A republic that a criminal banana company would be capable of destroying.

  2. Seriously people? by Netochka · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This story pops up every 6 months or so (I guess not here, but in general)... Has no one else heard about this banana scare story about 10 times before?? There's even a snopes article about it. Banana Extinction

  3. Finally we may get some variety ... by Big+Jojo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Having traveled in some tropical countries, one of the things I most remember about their fruits are the sheer NUMBER of different banana varieties. No monoculture. Your average roadside stand would have half a dozen varieties, and the one a mile down the road would have a few more. Tomorrow the mix would be different. And most of them would taste a lot better than the crap that's so widely available elsewhere!

    I for one will welcome our new polycultural bananalords.

  4. There are many kinds of bananas by mangu · · Score: 5, Interesting

    more genetic variation means more resistance to the weakness of monoculture

    I live in Brazil where there are many types of bananas available. Any supermarket has at least three different types. Just off my head, I can name at least six types of Brazilian bananas: Ouro ("gold"), Prata ("silver"), d'Agua ("water"), Maçã ("apple"), Nanica ("dwarf"), da Terra ("earth").
    1. Re:There are many kinds of bananas by beadfulthings · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Somebody with points should mod your post up as "interesting." I lived in the Far East when I was a child and remember the same thing--at least three readily available bananas with different characteristics--one yellow, one that was green in color even when ripe, and one that was reddish, kind of small, and intensely sweet.

      --
      "Here's what's happening. You're starting to drive like your Dad..." - Red Green
  5. Re:Fruit considered dangerous by midnighttoadstool · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Meat and saturated fat were linked to heart disease which is now considered non-causative: contributory only. Only highly processed meats are still linked to cancers. Red meat is linked to male infertility but only because of beef hormone usage.

    Salmonella infects 1 in 20,000 eggs, and generally only if the shell is cracked. For years it was supposed to cause heart disease, onyl for the WHO to establish that the more you eat the longer you live.

    Margarine was supposed to be heart healthy and turned out to be the opposite.

    Same with vegetable oils, but which cause cancer in lab animals (triggering an attempt to industrially convert polyunsaturates to monounsaturated oils).

    I reckon there are two general rules: when is doubt do the opposite of what the experts tell you, and the second to establish what is anthropologically natural to us rather than chasing novel elixirs. After all, you can't be moderate or balanced with poisons (like margarine, a sort of plasticised oil).

  6. Recent History: Paying off Terrorists by Arakageeta · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Chiquita Brands International still isn't a "harmless" international company. The company was fined by the US Justice Department, to the tune of $25 million, for paying extortion fees to Colombian rebels between 1997 and 2004 (though the company has a history of doing this back to 1989). Granted, perhaps Chiquita was screwed if it did or screwed if it didn't-- I am not familiar with the details.