Could Bananas Disappear From Shelves?

Greensboro, NC -- Some scientists believe a fungus could hit Latin America sometime within the five to 20 years. Once it arrives, it could wipe out Cavendish bananas, which is primarily the kind of banana people in North America eat.

Turner Sutton, with North Carolina State University's plant pathology department, said the threat of the Panama Disease is "real."

"There's no question about it," he said.

Sutton said a fungus could have an "enormous" impact on the banana supply to the United States. The fungus threatens Cavendish bananas. Sutton said there are only about three or four variations of Cavendish bananas people buy at the store.

Charles Mitchell, an assistant biology professor at UNC-Chapel Hill added that the fungus might not be the only threat. He said a bacteria could also devastate the crop.

Dan Koeppel is Los Angeles-based author and journalist. He has covered the threat in articles and a book, Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World.

He said something as small as a piece of dirt could spread the fungus to bananas on an entire continent.

Koeppel said said this fungus would not the first to wipe out a type of banana. Today's common banana, the Cavendish, replaced the banana most people ate up until the mid-1900s.

"Today's banana is not your grandparent's banana. That earlier banana, which was called the Gros Michel, was a bigger, better tasting and tougher banana," he said.

Sutton said the fungus scientists are worried about now is a new race of the fungus that devastated the Gros Michel. He does not think this round of fungus will spread as quickly as the earlier race.

Right now, the fungus is incurable and little research has been done, according to Koeppel. He thinks genetic engineering could help bananas resist the disease. Koeppel also suggests finding a replacement banana that resists the disease, so consumers no longer rely on variations of Cavindish.

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