Australia
November 10, 2009
A visiting expert has suggested Australian researchers could learn from the experiences of coexistence between GM and non-GM papaya.
Dr Dennis Gonsalves has told delegates at the GMCC-09 conference that the growing of GM papaya saved the Hawaiian papaya industry from devastation from papaya ringspot virus (PRSV).
“PRSV causes plants to become stunted and produce less fruit. In 1995, the Hawaiian papaya industry was in a crisis situation,” explained Dr Gonsalves.
“A transgenic cultivar, Rainbow, was developed which has resistance to PRSV. This was released commercially in 1998 and now accounts for more than 80 per cent of the papaya crop in Hawaii.”
“In the decade since the Rainbow variety was released, we have continued to see resistance to PRSV and consistently high yields of papaya crop”.
Dr Gonsalves said that although the GM papaya has been successful, there is still a need to grow non-transgenic crop for the Japanese market.
“Japan has different regulations for transgenic products so we have many processes in place to ensure coexistence between the GM and non-GM papaya.”
“Non-transgenic papaya must be certified by an independent authority which requires testing for the transgenic reporter gene. The farm must also meet requirements for buffer zones and submit to random testing to ensure the crop is free of transgenic material.”
Dr Gonsalves said the Hawaiian transgenic papaya experience shows that coexistence between GM and non-GM crops can realistically be managed.
“The regulations we have in place mean we can provide both GM and non-GM papaya for different markets without fear of contamination between crops.”
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