US: Citrus greening cure could be years away
That's the news officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture delivered to about 50 growers and scientists Thursday at a day-long seminar on regulatory issues at the Citrus Research and Education Center in Lake Alfred.
The current approval time for technology involving genetically modified organisms takes between two and five years, according to John Turner, director of environmental risk analysis programs at the Agriculture Department, who oversees biotechnology regulation.
Moreover, some GMO technologies will require approval from both EPA and USDA.
"As a grower, if we can't move faster than five years, we're dead," said Sharon Garrett, a Haines City grower.
The delays to the process usually result from lawsuits and the USDA are trying to reduce the time - to 1.5 years.
"If we don't do our jobs — dot all the i's and cross all the t's — we'll be overturned by a court," he said.
Citrus researchers and growers look to genetic modification — either of citrus trees to resist infection or of the Asian citrus psyllid, a host insect primarily responsible for spreading greening bacteria – as the best long-term solution to the disease that threatens the viability of growing citrus in Florida.
The regulators offered some hope for speeding up the process, primarily by consulting with them well before applying for approval, as soon as the technology looks promising enough to license.
Chris Wozniak, an EPA official also involved in GMO regulation, said, "The regulatory system tends to be more reactive than proactive. You need to be pushing those buttons as early as possible," Wozniak said.
Recent findings from research about the disease show that the bacterium responsible for the disease causes infected trees to give off a scent that alerts the carrier, Asian psyllid, to its presence.
The news is distressing to growers, though it may contain information that will assist scientists in their quest for a cure.
Greening-infected citrus trees emit a fragrant chemical called methyl salicylate, according to the author of a recent study, Lukasz Stelinski, an assistant professor with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Citrus trees release the same chemical, in the same amount, when under attack by the Asian citrus psyllid, the insect that transmits the bacterium.
When the pests encounter a faint whiff of methyl salicylate they interpret it to mean that other psyllids have found a good place to feed, and hurry to join the banquet. One experiment in the study showed that psyllids were more likely to land on infected citrus trees than healthy ones.
Source: news.ufl.edu