The ‘Rainbow’ papaya experience
2016
Gonsalves, D.
This presentation focuses on the virus-resistant Hawaii transgenic ‘Rainbow’ papaya experience, where I briefly cover: (1) development and commercialization, (2) farmer and consumer reactions, (3) reaction in Japan, (4) genetic modification (GM) controversy in Hawaii, and (5) my personal thoughts on GM horticultural crops. The ‘Rainbow’ papaya was commercialized in 1998 and saved the papaya industry from further devastation by Papaya ringspot virus(PRSV). Farmers and consumers rapidly adopted the transgenic papaya, which today accounts for 85% of Hawaii’s papaya production. Deregulation of the ‘Rainbow’ papaya in Japan was accomplished in December 2011, after a decade of effort. Reaction against the GMO papaya in Japan is not significant, but shipment of the papaya to Japan is slow because of the marketing approaches of the importers. All of the major corn seed companies of the world have operations in Hawaii because favorable weather and labor conditions allow multiple generations of corn to be grown in a year. Anti-GM controversy is primarily at the presence of the large seed companies in Hawaii. The current anti-GM bills in Hawaii are briefly noted. Commercialization of GM horticultural crops started out well in the 1990s, but very few horticultural crops have followed suit in the ensuing 16 years. I also provide some of my thoughts on GM horticultural crops.
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