Anti-GMOers Spread Baseless Fear About Possibly Non Existent Monsanto Bananas.

[HuckleB]

Posted by Mark Lynas on his Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Mark-Lynas-168122006568847/ :

"Just when you thought anti-GMO campaigners couldn't get any dumber, they come up with this gem - warning about the danger of GMO bananas in Hawaii. These 'Monsanto bananas' will apparently "cross-pollinate" with conventional ones, forcing farmers to pay Monsanto.

http://mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/603710/GMO-bananas-threaten-diversity-of-crops-in-Hawaii.html?nav=18

Note to the crazies: all bananas are sterile clones, and produce no pollen. Better come up with a new argument quick! (Actually I suspect the entire story is false - it's the first I've heard of Monsanto working on GMO bananas.)"

[Xipe Totec]

1. Not all bananas are sterile, but commercially grown bananas are.

There'a desperate race at the moment to find a genetically modified variety that is resistant to various wilts.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-04/banana-killer-on-the-march-fuels-risk-of-fruit-s-next-extinction

While there are more than 1,000 types of bananas, many are consumed where they are grown or are inedible. To make money on exports, growers had to rely on a single variety to ensure uniformity and keep production costs low. Until the 1960s, that was the Gros Michel, which all but disappeared after a decades-long spread of what came to be known as Panama disease.



Not all bananas are seedless, though. Some bananas contain dozens of pea-sized seeds. And those seeds may hold a key to protecting bananas from the diseases that threaten them.

https://student.societyforscience.org/article/saving-banana

[HuckleB]

2. The commercially grown part is the point.

But, yes, you are correct.