On Mon, 2 Apr 2007, Jonnie Santos wrote:

Yes. Thanx, IIRC this is one by the researcher. She
clarifies that their research which they relinquished,
was done by conventional breeding of a Hawaiian variety
in the laboratory.

"... the taro varieties patented by the University
of Hawaii are not GE varieties. They were conventional
crosses resulting from hand-pollination of a Hawaiian
variety with a Palauan variety."

She also says that the chances of this variety
affecting taro outside of the laboratory is nil.
It's implied from what she says about the chances for a
commercial Chinese taro variety-- GM-- affecting
Hawaiian taro.

"Unless Hawaiian taro varieties are hand-pollinated,
they rarely produce seed capable of developing into
whole plants. In order for foreign genes to move from a
GE Chinese taro to a Hawaiian taro, the Chinese taro
would need to flower (rare event), the pollen would
need to move to a flowering Hawaiian taro (an
infrequent event), seed would need to develop (rare
event) and seedlings would need to germinate and grow
into whole plants (rare event). What are the chances of
this occurring? Extremely low."

But some, like these activists, are concerned about
preserving the current Hawaiian taro gene pool, because
to them the taro is sacrosanct. Here's a quote from the
first article.

'In a heated discussion in the Capitol courtyard,
activist Walter Ritte of Molokai yelled to Say and
Tsuji, "This is not about research. This is about
changing the genes of our ancestors. That's what it is
about."

'In a written statement, Ritte said, "The Hawaiians
have not given their permission for scientist to modify
the genes of their first-born Haloa, the taro."'

The above statement is untrue. GM researchers are not
working on the Hawaiian taro, but rather on the
commercial Chinese variety. But of course, there is
still a negligible chance that there may be an
unforseen gene transfer as mentioned above.

According to the third article, some of the diseases
have already reached Hawaii and are controllable by
removing the infected plants. But the new viruses have
not reached here yet and can wipe out whole fields.
Hence for example, we now receive no imports from
Samoa. Their export taro industry is quarantined and
shut down.

In due time the disease will come to Hawaii, and native
Hawaiian activists will lament the passing of Hawaiian
taro. But it's obvious that they would rather that
happen than have the negligible risk that laboratory
research on the commercial Chinese variety affect the
genes of the Hawaiian taro. OTOH, the taro researchers
say...

'There is a deadly viral complex in the South Pacific
that would kill all Hawaiian taro varieties if it ever
reached Hawaii. In the Solomon Islands, there is a
"time of hungry" when sweet potatoes cannot be grown
due to high rainfall, but taro cannot be grown either
because it is killed by the viral complex. Genetic
engineering for viral disease resistance saved the
papaya industry in Hawaii. It has the potential to
improve disease resistance in taro, too.'

Ie, if you can wipe out the disease in the Solomon
Islands, etc, before it spreads to Asia, then it would
never reach Hawaii and wipe out the Hawaiian taro. I
would call this the Bush al Queda argument-- except
that it makes sense when you talk about a disease
rather than an idea.

Here's a short description of the viral complex from
the second article. But it's an unpredictable bug and
apparantly the resistant taro strains released since
1992 haven't been too effectve. The Solomon Islands are
now reported above to have no taro. I wonder if the
"tolerant cultivars" mentioned in the article below are
those patented by the UH researchers.

"Severe cases of alomae can result in total crop loss,
while bobone can cause up to 25%% yield loss. However,
in many instances, only isolated plants in taro fields
seem to be affected by either disease, and in the case
of bobone infected plants may recover from the
symptoms. The alomae/bobone disease complex has been
reported in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. The
disease is controlled by pulling out diseased plants in
the field, and by careful selection to ensure
disease-free planting material. Ultimately, control
will have to rely on breeding and disseminating
resistant cultivars. Some tolerant cultivars bred
through recurrent selection, have been released in
Solomon Islands since 1992 (Gunua & Kokoa, 1995)."

I think that the GM taro researchers should quantify
the risk of their research to Hawaiian taro. For
example, it could be less than 1/1000 of 1%% risk of
changing a gene of Hawaiian taro, vs a 100%% chance of
the disease eventually reaching Hawaii and wiping out
the Hawaiian taro if it is not checked by GM means.
They have already tried resistant varieties--
apparantly without success. And probably the chances of
coming up with a Chinese taro hybrid from conventional
breeding before the disease gets here is zero. IIRC
it's less likely that the mix of a GM and a Hawaiian
taro (in the unlikely event that that occurs) will
germinate in comparison to the equally unlikely event
of the mix of conventionally bred hybrid abd a Hawaiian
taro seed germinating. So the short run risk here is
better with the GM research compared to conventional
breeding. The long term risk of GM research in
comparison is worse because the progeny of the GM
parent may more likely be unrecognizable as taro and a
terrible pest.