Tuesday, November 05, 2013 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
(NaturalNews) Increasingly stricken by a disease that leaves them shriveled, discolored and sour, Florida oranges are the latest target for genetic manipulators who are right now working on a new variety of genetically modified (GM) orange that could end up containing pig genes. According to The New York Times (NYT), the disease, known as citrus greening, threatens the entire domestic orange industry, which is why some of Florida's largest citrus producers see no other option but to fund the development of GM oranges.
Southern Gardens Citrus (SGC), one of Florida's largest citrus growers and manager of some two-and-a-half million orange trees in south-central Florida, is at the forefront of the push for GM oranges. According to reports, the company recently tried to battle citrus greening in its own groves, chopping down and burning hundreds of thousands of infected trees and bolstering its arsenal of pesticides. But these efforts ultimately failed, prompting company officials to seek various alternative approaches.
When scouring the world for an orange variety immune to the disease proved fruitless, Ricke Kress, SGC's president, decided it might be time to take a more drastic approach. According to the NYT, Kress and his boss had previously mulled the idea of developing GMO oranges when citrus greening first showed up in the state but were reluctant to actually go through with it due to the long-term damage it might cause to the citrus industry. Now, however, Kress believes that the situation is far more serious.
Though he admits that Florida oranges could naturally develop their own resistance to the C. Liberibacter asiaticus bacterium, which is believed to be the cause of citrus greening, Kress is not necessarily keen on taking this risk. Natural resistance could take just a few months to develop, he says, or it could take years or even decades. In the meantime, Florida oranges could end up going extinct, leading to the loss of some 76,000 jobs in Florida and the end of bountiful orange juice cartons on grocery store shelves.
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