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ALERT FLA: : chinese green disease in Florida and Tijuana, spreading!

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With the declining bee population, and now this, might as well kiss the citrus industry good bye .......... A Chinese pathogen has the citrus industry talking apocalypse.By Alexander ZaitchikOn July 11, the U.S. Department of Agriculture delivered some much-neededgood news to Florida's recently battered citrus growers. In its finalestimate for statewide citrus output in 2008, the agency expected theindustry to produce 168 million boxes of oranges and grapefruit, a 30percent increase over last year.But the champagne bottles will stay corked in Florida groves. Despite thisyear's posthurricane bounce-back in production, the threat of huang longbing (HLB), or citrus greening disease, is casting a rapidly deepeningshadow over the state's iconic fruit. As greening spreads west (it wasdiscovered last week in Tijuana, Mexico), local farmers are just beginningto understand the existential nature of the bacterial threat."A year ago, we were just getting our heads around greening," says MichaelSparks, chief executive of Florida Citrus Mutual, the state's industryassociation. "Now it's clear this thing is stronger and more troubling thananything we've encountered in the past. It's bigger than canker. We couldlose citrus in Florida. It's that big."HLB, first discovered in China, is the deadliest and least understoodpathogen in the citrus world. Spread by insects, it hibernates like HIVbefore striking like ebola, killing trees from the inside and transformingoranges and grapefruit into sickly, dry, and deformed green orbs. In amacabre touch, the disease turns citrus seeds black. There is no cure;infected plants must be uprooted and destroyed.First detected in Florida a decade ago, HBL in 2007 spread to all 30 of thestate's citrus growing counties, with the worst infections located in thesouth."We estimate that the disease has established itself in between 12 and 20percent of all citrus trees in the state," says Denise D. Feiber, of theFlorida Department of Agriculture's Division of Plant Industry. "We tellgrowers that if it isn't in their groves yet, it's likely on the way, orthey just haven't tested thoroughly enough."Terrified, the industry has begun to mobilize. Sparks speaks of a "CitrusManhattan Project" currently under way in labs across the state, fundedmostly by local growers. This December, Orlando will host a conferencecalled Reaching Beyond Boundaries, which will bring together citrusscientists from around the world to share experiences and craft a globallycoordinated defense strategy."In three years, my budget has gone from $1.5 to $20 million, fueled by thegrowth of HLB," says Steven Rogers, scientific coordinator for the FloridaCitrus Production Research Advisory Council, the state agency that overseescitrus research. "HLB is a force to contend with, and there is a lot ofwork to do. We need help from the National Academy of Sciences and fromscientists around the world to combat this."HLB is also found throughout Asia and Latin America, including fellowhemispheric citrus giant Brazil, which together with Florida produces mostof the world's orange juice. Says Sparks: "If Florida and Brazil go down,you're talking about the end of orange juice as we know it." «¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»Paranormal_Research - Scientific Data, Health Conspiracies & Anything Strange Paranormal_ResearchSubscribe:... Paranormal_Research-

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