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"Super Bananas" May Save Millions of Lives In Africa
schwit1 (797399) writes "A super-enriched genetically engineered banana will soon go through its first human trial, which will test its effect on vitamin A levels, Australian researchers said Monday. The project plans to have the special banana varieties — enriched with alpha and beta carotene which the body converts to vitamin A — growing in Uganda by 2020. The bananas are now being sent to the United States, and it is expected that the six-week trial measuring how well they lift vitamin A levels in humans will begin soon."
GENETICALLY ENGINEERED???? That's the boogeyman under the bed!! We must grow organic and all be vegans. If the poor Africans are starving, they just need to go to their local Whole Foods and buy some food.
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
Isn't the banana population under serious threat because of monoculture? I remember the current banana cultivar - the Cavendish - is under threat because of lack of disease resistance because of monoculture. The previous well used cultivar, the Gros Michel, was replaced because it lost to a disease threat - also due to monoculture. The article didn't mention anything about plant disease resistance.
But who owns the patents? Or is this one a freebie?
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Why the fuck the TFS quotes a source from Phys.org, when you can straight to QUT and get THEIR press release Super bananas – world first human trial (which has a lot more detail)
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
RTFA (I know, I know) -These have much higher levels of vitamin A
One of the problems with banananas is that food crop bananas are clones, and so as a monoculture the crops are prone to complete loss by disease.
Unrelated, but mentioned in the article, everything that is not dark green or orange that you add vitamin A to will take on an orange hue. That is not a surprise. Also not a problem.
More music, fewer hits
"Natural" Bananas continu to change their genetics and bacteria continues to swap genes from species to species with the bananas and it goes un--tested!!!
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Looks like it's time for a gritty Bananaman reboot!
There is a war going on for your mind.
They don't have seeds and are bred by splicing new chutes onto existing roots.
File this under donotwant. Unlike most vitamins, A is not water soluble and can build up to toxic levels in the body. Of special importance to Africans is that it also makes the body more susceptible to sun burns.
Centralized control of industrially prepared seeds means that planting and harvest will be under economical control of big corporations. Much of the crop is sold out of country in return for dollars used to buy weapons in order to control the unrests of increasing amounts of land being placed under the control of corporate interests.
Farmers will be driven off their lands (not least because they will be sued if genetically modified food spreads to their fields, and because the poison-intensive "genetically modified" industrial agriculture ruins the soil and drains ground water) and move to the cities where they starve or become criminal, with the latter not increasing the amount of available food but reducing the number of surviving eaters.
It's not like any of this is news but people still swallow the "industrialized food will feed starving people" when the truth is that it will fill our supermarkets and the food troughs of our livestock and take the last chance of local farmers to survive independently, and will mean that the local people will not be able to afford the food produced in their country while wresting control over the lands from the people and passing them to corporations through crime lords and/or local potentates.
Yeah, "save millions".
Aside from considerations against or pro GMO, the bigger problem of all is that in Africa, besides bananas being (cheap) staple to millions, there are hundreds of natural variations, and their natural diversity is astounding. Besides this, lets not forget the Gros Michel was wiped out by a global disease, and the Cavendish seems headed the same way. There is also issues about cross-pollination with the local species. Seems a very misguided idea to mess with that.
One tiny tablet, and you get all the vitamins you need, and then some.
end speculation on basic commodities like food and water. there really are enough resources to feed everyone, but the meme of a world of scarcity has long been used as a justification for the most indefensible of human actions.
It can be racist depending on how it is offered. It is because of the association with ancesters racist trot forward in their attemps to dehumanize the black population. Of course they put it differently and i'm trying to not be offensive in my wording. The same is said and used with fried chicken and water melon in the US because of historically utilitarian reasons (chicken was cheap to a poor population and like its name suggests, water melon contains a lot of water which is a neccesity in fields on hot days. Its basically nature's canteen.)
However, all these foods are consumed still and somewhat still popular with poorer communities. Its how it is offered or obtained that can carry the racist notations. I doubt it will br seen as racist. I'm just curious if enough carotene will be present to start turning things orange like excessive carot eating can do. Durring the cold war, we claimed our pilots couls see better thsn eagles and suggested it was from eating carrots. Operatives would then watch russians turn orange trying to match it and we gathered information about where bases were located and who the jet pilots were. Even Disney was in on it.
Beta carotene is only one of hundreds of carotenoids. We know that there are other carotenoids with important properties for human health e,g, lutein, lycopene, astaxanthin.
Better to think of beta carotene as a marker in foods rather than a be-all, end-all carotenoid. Also balance with other oil soluble and anti-oxidant nutrients can be important.
Hamburger meat: $3.72 / pound
Bananas: 59Â / pound
Apples: $1.30 / pound
Romaine lettuce: $2.72 / pound
Ice cream: $5
People who go for instant gratification cut school, walk out on the job when they get mad, and eat Oreos. People who think though the long-term effects of their decisions work their way through college, bite their tongue and discuss problems when calm, eat fruits and vegetables, and exercise - even though they don't WANT to do those things I.the moment, they think long term.
Short-term thinking results in a person being poor and unhealthy. Long term thinking tends to lead to financial success and a healthy lifestyle. I have done, and still do, some of both. I worked late last night, and I'm headed in to my high-paying job, where I'll work hard at serving the needs of the organization. First, I'm going to finish smoking this cigarette. I know each of those choices will probably effect me five years from now.
I call patent firsties!!!
So the "super" in these bananas is extra Vitamin A (alpha and beta carotene). But in general this solves nothing because those people who are Vitamin A deficient probably can't afford the bananas and/or don't have the resources to grow them... if they did they could just as easily grow (for example) Papayas which grow in the same conditions as Bananas and have more than enough beta carotene without any GM tricks. The problem is that both Bananas and Papayas need very fertile soil (or lots of fertilizer) and plenty of water to grow.
The problem of Vitamin A dificiency may be real enough, but to really solve it you have to first look at the root of the problem. Why are people Vitamin A deficient? Were they always or is there something new happening? In Uganda for example I suspect that it's because people used to get their beta carotene from unprocessed red palm oil which they used to extract themselves and used for all their cooking, and now they are using processed cooking oils which are cheap enough that they just don't bother extracting their own oil anymore but which have all the beta carotene removed! So the problem was created by modern consumer society in the first place! The best solution here is just a bit of education, because the unprocessed red palm oil is probably still available and inexpensive and people have just gotten out the habit of using it. Just tell them to go back to frying their non-GM bananas in red palm oil instead of processed oil and they'll stop being Vitamin A deficient in no time.
In general, people who eat traditional diets are rarely deficient in such important nutrients as Vitamin A unless they simply don't have enough to eat overall. But people are losing their traditional diets due to the relentless onslought of consumerism... for those populations the cheapest and most effective solution to Vitamin A deficiency is education and making sure traditional sources of beta carotine continue to be available. For those who are deficient because of extreme poverty the super bananas (or the golden rice, another frankenfood ultra-solution) solve nothing unless you give them away, in which case you can give away non-GM sources of beta carotene just as easily.
What does Monsanto have to do with this article?
Sounds like a round of "Is It Racist?"
Are you serious about #1. And I'm not ONLY talking about cross field issues, but any Monsanto/GMO issues. You may find this site credible:
http://www.monsanto.com/newsvi...
Since 1997, we have only filed suit against farmers 145 times in the United States. This may sound like a lot, but when you consider that we sell seed to more than 250,000 American farmers a year, it’s really a small number. Of these, we've proceeded through trial with only eleven farmers. All eleven cases were found in Monsanto’s favor.
And for #2 I'm very familiar with growing bananas in marginal conditions. I lived in Mobile Alabama, and while we can grow banana trees there, the winters often kill them back to the point where they nearly have to start over each year. Do-able but not efficient. But if they can alter the fruit to be more healthy they can alter the tree to be more drought and/or cold resistant.
Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.
It's free. 30 years down the road no one can claim a patent on it. Just let food grow naturally, stop this super this super that crap.
did you forget to take your meds?
If by "giving" you mean "hurling at in a hostile or jocular manner".
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
The chutes also help them slow down after re-entering the Earth's atmosphere.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
You jest, but many people believe that modern day crops are natural. Strawberries, wheat, broccoli, corn, all man made, via genetic alteration and hybridization. Many more crops are what a chihuahua is to a wolf. If conventional breeding were invented today, it would be outlawed.
Thank god these new super bananas are designed by heaven above to be perfectly suited for human consumption!
most GMOs are created in response to a need that doesn't exist because of the nature of who gets to decide about what gets the research.
GMOs are made for profit by businesses to maximise shareholder value/revenue first and to answer the demands of their market second , pretty much like any physical product of a major corporation.
A while back there was a lot of noise about vitamin A enriched rice , which came with many stories about how the west was going to save those poor people in hot countries from famine with extra vitamin A. Most of the hype about that is steadily falling away as study after study shows serious long term problems with GMO and that vitamin A in rice did not transfer into the body as well as first thought.
This is yet another case of big business trying to play a humanitarian card yet retaining patents , lucrative profits and applying restrictive licencing.
It is this kind of 'humanitarianism' that causes the majority of problems in poorer countries by providing funds for corruption and disrupting local solutions or resolutions that allow communities to take control of their destinies.
There is a growing tide of resentment and resistance outside the west which if unchecked will spark off a round of terrorism that will make 9/11 look like a kids party.
We must stop interfering , none of us would like other countries doing this to us , the hypocrisy must stop and it is we the consumers that must vote with our money and our votes to stop it happening.
[site]
I was bitten by a genetically-engineered banana, and I didn't get any superpowers. Just a scaly rash.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
against a man armed with a banana?
Nearly 200 posts and nobody has asked the most important question!
Prove anything by multiplying Huge Number times Tiny Number
This is right on point. Although I think upbringing is huge. People who were raised on garbage by their parents and think vegetables are gross and that food that isn't beige is weird will eat that way till they die prematurely.
I'm tempted to see just how cheaply I can eat for the next week or so. Red beans and rice, taco night (no ground beef and taco shells, grill a cheap cut of meat and put in steamed tortillas), crock pot chicken and broccoli soup. I can think of a lot of ways to eat for less than the dollar menu.
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
Yeah, the actual argument used against this kind of GMO use is that it would cost the same to treat the root cause of the problem by teaching people to grow a wider range of crops and the importance of a balanced diet.
The "root cause" of malnutrition is societal dysfunction. We have more than enough food, energy, water, fertilizers or the potential to obtain them in every country on earth, enough to feed the world ten times over. Every person on earth prefers a balanced and diverse diet, if it's a available. When people starve or go sick it's because they are trapped in a low productivity economy, caused by corruption, war, mismanagement of public resources and usually enabled or instigated by some western power friendly to the local chieftain.
This is techie myopia at it's finest, from the "give laptops to the poor" or "internet balloons" to "vaccines via mosquitoes". We know how to make the internet work and we know how to deliver vaccines: just like we do it in the rich countries. Poor people don't need technical solutions designed to work in anarchy, they need societal reform and functional public services. While the intention behind these schemes is laudable, we should not believe for a moment they are more than bandaids in lieu of peace, democracy and working governments.
You look like a knee-jerk muppet conjuring stereotypes ...
Ha! I parsed that as "muppet-conjuring." I had a fleeting image of the Count as a muppet necromancer. One, two, three, four! Four muppet zombies! ah ah ah ah.
You're assuming that said people know how to cook, and have the equipment to cook. A LOT of poor people weren't even taught basic cooking skills by their parents or guardians. And they usually don't have too much in the way of rice cookers or slow cookers to take care of beans and rice. The $25 that could go towards a slow cooker usually ends up being spent as two day's worth of food. They literally don't have $25 extra to spend. And when they do, they tend to treat it as a cash windfall and "treat" themselves.
Probably most if not all current GMO food crops do not damage human health.
However, in the abstract, you are engineering (almost arbitrarily modifying) organisms capable of spontaneous reproduction and proliferation, so the level of precautionary principle needed is commensurate with "would it be ok if this escaped into the wild and took over ecosystem niches from more naturally evolved or incrementally bred crops / organisms? Do we have an accurate model of what would happen in that case? Have we tested enough to verify that model? And every case of a different manipulation or in a different organism is different so requires repetition of extensive testing."
The types of risks there run the gamut from destruction of wild varieties and species by competition from the GMO. Substantial alteration of ecosystem by shifting the balance of successful and unsuccessful organisms. Proliferation of and reliance on a GMO monoculture which is then subject to rapid destruction from a single pathogen. etc. etc. Ecological system effects in other words. Very hard to test for.
Again, it will probably be all be fine, until one day when it won't. When something unanticipated will happen and, well, the genie is out of the bottle and doesn't fit back in.
At a minimum, GMO food should be labelled as such, and let people decide for themselves and vote with their pocketbook.
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
> a McMeal on the way home from work (they have some sort of deal going now where you can get 4 burgers, some fries, and 4 soft drinks for $9.99)
> burn $5 or so in gas to get proper food at the nearest decent grocery store 10 miles away
Don't ever go on "The Price Is Right". You'll embarrass yourself. The four large sodas are $9.99, you don't get four burgers and fries too. Also for $9.99, you can get 5 pounds of bananas l, plus 2 pounds of carrots, us 1 pound of apples, 2 pounds of rice, 1 pound of beans, and half a pound of chicken.
Just imagine the outcry if they dared to offer them water melons.
Meanwhile, starving kids don't give a shit what Rev. Jackson says as long as they have food.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
The real story here is 1) this will not reduce malnutrition problems in the third world 2) its an effort to get third world populations hooked on GMOs controlled by large corporations, which will actually increase suffering as it will lead to more expensive food with all of the licensing fees. It wont solve malnutrition because if it were the need for another plant we could simply plant papayas to provide the vitamin A. The solution may as well be these people going back to their more traditional diet, we forget that in the past these people were not malnourished and it is the introduction of the corporate controlled food supply that has already occured that created these problems by altering the traditional diet. What is very likely is that corporate controlled food sources such as vegetable oil replaced locally produced palm oil which may have had the vitamin A.
On to the issue of the safety of the GMOs. Don't you people realize that "opposition to GMOs is anti-science " is pure marketing hogwash being given to you by powerful multinational corporations? The fact is the concerns of the anti-GMO people are based in valid scientific concerns over the safety of GMOs and its long term impact on the biosphere. Is it really that hard for you people to believe that multinationals care only about their own profits and really dont care about the health of people?
The fact is that GMOs pose a very serious danger to the health of the biosphere. Several books have been written on the subject which detail the dangers which are well documented, such as Jeffrey Smiths. The fact is rat studies have shown that GMOs cause kidney and liver damage to name a few. Its only a matter fo time before GMOs are shown to cause cancer. do you people really think that the same corporations that have given us an epidemic of obesity due to heavily manipulated wheat products and overall the trash in the food supply will tell you that GMOs are even worse?
You mean the stuff that's toxic if you take too much of it?
I know, I know, it's far more likely that they have a shortage than reaching toxic levels, but does it have to be Vitamin A? There are plenty of important vitamins that are by far not as problematic as this and by far more prone to insufficient supply. Especially in an environment where people may know even less about nutrition than they do around here...
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
When GMO is discussed, Mosanto ain't far away.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Same applies to some other areas of the planet.
Say, is it still against God's Will to use rubbers? And if so, when do we sterilize the religious nutjobs?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
While I generally agree with you, there is some interesting research ( I can't think of it off the top of my head) that points to the stress of being poor actually causing poor judgement in these situations.
Question to radio Eriwan: Is it true that bananas are good for your virility?
Answer of radio Eriwan: In principle, yes. But problems remain with proper attachment.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
What? Are you nuts? And then? We'd have to colonize them again, do you remember? When we did that? That was expensive! And dangerous I may add, because they sure didn't like that and they wanted to throw us out. And then we lose control over them.
No. We have a far cheaper and more reliable control tool now. Not only do we not have to lift a finger to establish order there, it also doesn't matter who rules the area. And we'll be the nice guys, too, because we make them independent and bring them democracy, peace and harmony! Hey, awesome!
The tool is rolled up into 3 little letters: IMF. And the course of action is more or less this:
First, you have a colony that you bled dry to the point where they are unable to sustain themselves. Since having colonies is no longer politically correct, just create some kind of civil war or something like that. Anything is fine as long as you manage to get the target broke as fuck in the end. Then, when they're economically dead, it's time to end the war, so send "peace keeping" troops over to mop the floor with whatever side doesn't agree with your terms. Your terms of course being that the IMF gets to call the shots. And to keep it PC, that also entails some "development aid" money.
From then on it's a breeze. Since they need your money like the druggy needs the crack, you can pretty much dictate what that money will be spent on. That way you can get cheap bananas and peanuts and whatever else grows there (which also ensures that they will remain dependent on more money since they have to import food since you force them to export what they grow for you), and of course whatever is in their soil you can leech for a "fair compensation", like, say, lower interest.
But only 'cause sparkling glass beads went out of fashion as a trade material to dupe the natives.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I for one welcome our potassium-40 bearing fruity overlords....
any ideas from Worms Armageddon, while developing these Super Bananas
How many liberals faking scientific literacy making that argument do you see on slashdot? Global warming denialism is more endemic to American conservatives than any of the commonly cited stereotypes about liberals.
I think nuclear deniers have a hold on liberal thinking. It is successful enough that research into next gen technology for safer and more efficient reactors gets pulled. Its happened repeatedly over the decades under various democratic administrations to appease the base.
Do you people really think that the same corporations that have given us an epidemic of obesity due to heavily manipulated wheat products and overall the trash in the food supply will tell you that GMOs are even worse?
Firstly, the food supply has been heavily manipulated for many years through selective breeding. I won't defend the use of GMOs, but it is only the latest round in the bio-wars. It's sort of like fracking--everything can be done "safely" until there is an accident or unintended consequence. Do you believe the corporations and FDA can and will keep the food supply safe? Well, it's better than the old days, but still not where it could be.
The main reason I'm writin though, is I believe the obesity epidemic has very little to do with wheat product manipulation, and a whole lot to do with formulation of prepared foods, super-sized promotion of soft drinks, insane portion sizes, and the fact that high fructose corn syrup is in everything. See also: sedentary lifestyle. Anyway, have a nice day..
d
A myth. Show us where you can buy these, please.
Myth #2. BT toxic is completely inactive in mammalian guts due to the acidic environment and lack of appropriate receptors to latch onto. Cry proteins are digested like any others.
Maybe next time, have the first clue what you're talking about before you spout oft-repeated bullshit.
kurzweil_freak
5th Kyu Genbukan Ninpo/KJJR student
Be the darkness that allows the light to shine.
A statement like GMOs cause cancer has little more information content than "life causes cancer" which is undoubtedly true but vacuous.
Which GMOs? All of them? Which genetic modification in particular? All of them? One of them? Some class of them, defined somehow?
At the level of generality you state it, you are contributing to the perception that GMO opponents are unscientific.
There are very serious concerns about GMOs and ecosystems. But overstating the case with a pseudo-science statement like "GMOs are toxic" just weakens the legitimate arguments against GMOs. Every genetic manipulation of every different organism species is a different case, and will have different effects.
It's very akin to changing a computer program. What you say is akin to saying "every change to MacOSX is toxic and will cause a worldwide computer virus epidemic". Well that is clearly an uninformed, and frankly, dumb statement, and it undermines the legitimate argument that there are some (relatively few) possible specific types of changes to MacOSX that would in fact cause a worldwide computer virus epidemic.
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
It would be interesting to do it for a week.
You can microwave (or fry) those tortillas until crispy, if you like crispy. A quick. Light spray of oil (Pam) before microwaving or pan frying makes them EXACTLY like the packaged taco shells, except they are fresh. I prefer tacos with seasoned black beans rather than greasy meat.
Tortillas are about a dollar for 25. Beans, $2 per dry pound, rice less tha. $1 per dry pound. All together, I think tacos for a family of four is about $5.
AAnyone saying fast food is cheap obviously hasn't been an assistant manager at a restaurant. The food cost is 20-30% of sales. Which means, buying the same food at the store would cost 80% less. You can then choose how much salt you want to use, if you want seasoned black beans or greasy beef, etc.
You can eat quite healthy (more than your average rich American) for very cheap, it's just not convenient and doesn't taste as good. It wouldn't surprise me if other factors more directly related to being poor contributed more to obesity (stress, for example).
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
If the plant produces it because OMG! GMO! it's evil and wrong. However, if you spray it all over the plants then it's ORGANIC!
Do you seriously think that civil wars break out in Africa only because some outside force actively plots to induce them?
The fact is rat studies have shown that GMOs cause kidney and liver damage to name a few.
You have just demonstrated that you don't actually have a slightest clue about GMOs. Stop reading "deep green" bullshit and buy a textbook.
My goodness, it has everything to do with refined wheat and the super high gluten varieties of wheat today that cause obesity causing problems. The stuff throws metabolism and blood sugar all over the place.
According to Dan Koeppel in his book linked here, Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World there are scores of species and varieties of bananas. Many have annoying seeds, but many also have large amounts of vitamin A, and Koeppel discusses the fact that on some islands these are a major source of vitamin A for the populace. So, I'm not dead-set against GMOs, but why should anyone take the risks (even if they are low), when we could instead merely introduce more cultivars already bearing copious amounts of vitamin A, and let the best one win? This would not only avoid the whole GMO issue, but it would also introduce new flavors, and may reduce the chances of the plants from being wiped out by Panama disease or black sigatoka, which threaten bananas mainly because likely every banana you've ever eaten is genetically identical, which usually predisposes a population to diseases, if you didn't know.
D'oh! You're right too.
And use drones to deliver those bananas
Casteism
And there is the Law of Conservation that you need to take into account. Which means that you have to count with tradeoffs for anything extra that you want your plant doing: Is it resistant to a plague? Then it will be less nutritive, or require more water, or be less resistant to cold... or depend on tons of extra chemicals.
The principal issue with food in Africa is not that there aren't any plants that a nutritive enough: There are plenty.
The problems are
Water Supply, Soil scarcity and lack of a logistic network.
The first problem is much more acute in sub-Saharan Africa and is aggravated by wells (yes, wells) which cause saltwater levels to rise.
The second issue, soil is much more insidious as it has several aspects:
The loss of soil due to erosion (HUGE problem, aggravated by industrial agriculture)
and Soil taken away by multinationals to grow cash crops (a large percentage of the available soil actually) and the third, logistiscs is actually the onluy one that can be addressed with relative ease.
So, they are now telling me that they have created a banana that can transport itself, grow without water on salty rock and has a lawyer's degree to defend people against expropriation.
That's a hell of a banana mate!
-- 29A the number of the Beast