Emile Frison

"Only GM [genetic modification] can save the banana" is the message of a headline-grabbing story that first surfaced in 2001, made a comeback in 2003, and has done the rounds in the media ever since. The story claims that because bananas are sterile, they can't be bred to avoid virulent banana diseases and so could be extinct within a decade.

According to the story, "The standard variety, the Cavendish, is already threatened with a disease called black Sigatoka, and a new strain of another fungal condition, Panama disease, could wipe the plant out within a decade." The banana business, we are told, is "doomed". "No more fresh bananas. No more banana bread. No more banana muffins or banana cream pie." Worse still, bananas are an important nutritional source for many in the developing world. "Half a billion people in Africa and Asia depend on the banana for up to half their daily calories," say the reports. "Genetic engineering may be the only answer": "Scientists believe that the creation of a GM banana that can resist the diseases may be the only way of preserving the fruit's future."

Each time the "Only GM can save the banana" headline-grabbing story re-emerges, it gets expertly debunked... until the next time comes around. And almost every time, the same scientist is quoted, Dr Emile Frison. Here are some of the headlines Dr Frison has helped to generate:

• "Without a genetic fix, the banana may be history"
• "Bananas 'will slip into extinction without GM"
• "'Decrepit' banana faces extinction in 10 years"
• "Yes, we'll have no bananas"
• "Bananas could split for good"
• "Defenceless banana 'will be extinct in 10 years'"
• "GM banana needed to fend off pests"
• "Bananas 'killed off' by 2013"
• "Bananas could split for good"
• "Banana on a slippery slope to extinction"
• "Bye Bye Banana"
• "Bananas; an endangered fruit"
• "Banana R.I.P."

But the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has directly contradicted Dr Frison's claims that bananas are on the verge of extinction, saying that while there are problems of vulnerability to disease, this is aggravated by the widescale commercial use of the Cavendish banana, and this can be countered by promoting greater genetic diversity. The FAO also points out that small-scale farmers around the world grow a wide range of banana species which are mostly less threatened than the Cavendish. There are, in fact, hundreds of different species of banana, and only 10 percent of the bananas produced and consumed globally are from the Cavendish.

Other scientists have also dismissed the claim that the banana is close to extinction. The Thai scientist, Benchamas Silayoi from Kasetsart University's Faculty of Agriculture, has said it is just not possible for bananas to vanish so quickly. She points out that there is a world collection of banana germplasm in the Catholic University in Leuven, Belgium, containing over 1,100 accessions, precisely for the purpose of conserving the plant. In addition, there is also an Asian banana collection in the Philippines, and Thailand also has its own collection at Kasetsart University's banana tissue culture lab. According to Benchamas, pests and diseases could not possibly make the banana extinct in the kind of time period claimed. "Only big bombs can do that," she says.

Plant pathologist Dr David Jones, a banana specialist, has also contradicted the claim that genetic engineering may be the only option for improving "sterile" banana cultivars. He points out that although "sterile" bananas "don't breed well, if at all, they can be induced to produce seed if pollinated by hand. Honduras's agricultural research foundation has had the most successful conventional banana breeding programme to date. The Honduran Foundation of Agricultural Research has bred disease-resistant bananas that are now grown extensively in Cuba [where severe problems with disease occurred previously]. One called Goldfinger is also grown in Australia, and others are on trial in Africa and elsewhere. Conventional breeding can deliver the goods, especially when it comes to bananas favoured by developing countries. It is true that it may be impossible to alter traits in the familiar 'Cavendish' banana with conventional breeding because of sterility problems. But it may be possible to breed a commercially acceptable disease-resistant export banana using a fertile dwarf variety of 'Gros Michel', an earlier export dessert banana."

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