May 21, 2026 07:26 PM
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2026/05/19/...lohslwnasi
EXCERPTS: Florida’s citrus industry is fighting for its life. After two decades of devastation from bacteria-caused citrus greening disease — known scientifically as huanglongbing, or HLB — production has collapsed from more than 250 million boxes in the early 2000s to a tiny fraction of that today. Growers have endured hurricanes, shrinking acreage and the slow death of millions of trees.
Now, the state is planting more than 300,000 citrus trees developed using CRISPR gene-editing technology, hoping to restore an industry that once defined Florida agriculture.
HLB is not just another crop disease. The bacterium that causes it attacks the tree’s vascular system, degrading fruit quality and eventually killing the plant. There is no cure. Traditional measures — pesticides, removal of infected trees, even protective screenhouses — have proven insufficient at scale. For many growers, the only realistic path forward is to plant trees that can tolerate or resist the disease.
That is where biotechnology enters the picture... [...] Because of that distinction, U.S. regulators often treat CRISPR-edited plants differently from traditional genetically engineered, or “transgenic,” crops, which do contain DNA from other organisms. CRISPR-edited plants frequently face lighter scrutiny or are exempt from certain rules altogether.
[...] From a scientific standpoint, what matters is not how a genetic change is made, but what that change does. A plant with a precisely targeted mutation produced by CRISPR may be functionally identical to one produced by older methods — or even by conventional breeding. The method tells us little about the risk.
Yet our regulatory system remains fixated on process rather than product. [...] Florida’s citrus crisis exposes the consequences of that outdated framework. Growers are not interested in philosophical distinctions between genetic engineering techniques; they are trying to keep their farms alive. They need access to the full spectrum of tools modern science can offer.
[...] if we truly want to revitalize Florida citrus, we need to bring our regulatory system into the 21st century. That means abandoning arbitrary distinctions between “gene-edited” and “transgenic,” and introducing a coherent, science-based approach... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: Florida’s citrus industry is fighting for its life. After two decades of devastation from bacteria-caused citrus greening disease — known scientifically as huanglongbing, or HLB — production has collapsed from more than 250 million boxes in the early 2000s to a tiny fraction of that today. Growers have endured hurricanes, shrinking acreage and the slow death of millions of trees.
Now, the state is planting more than 300,000 citrus trees developed using CRISPR gene-editing technology, hoping to restore an industry that once defined Florida agriculture.
HLB is not just another crop disease. The bacterium that causes it attacks the tree’s vascular system, degrading fruit quality and eventually killing the plant. There is no cure. Traditional measures — pesticides, removal of infected trees, even protective screenhouses — have proven insufficient at scale. For many growers, the only realistic path forward is to plant trees that can tolerate or resist the disease.
That is where biotechnology enters the picture... [...] Because of that distinction, U.S. regulators often treat CRISPR-edited plants differently from traditional genetically engineered, or “transgenic,” crops, which do contain DNA from other organisms. CRISPR-edited plants frequently face lighter scrutiny or are exempt from certain rules altogether.
[...] From a scientific standpoint, what matters is not how a genetic change is made, but what that change does. A plant with a precisely targeted mutation produced by CRISPR may be functionally identical to one produced by older methods — or even by conventional breeding. The method tells us little about the risk.
Yet our regulatory system remains fixated on process rather than product. [...] Florida’s citrus crisis exposes the consequences of that outdated framework. Growers are not interested in philosophical distinctions between genetic engineering techniques; they are trying to keep their farms alive. They need access to the full spectrum of tools modern science can offer.
[...] if we truly want to revitalize Florida citrus, we need to bring our regulatory system into the 21st century. That means abandoning arbitrary distinctions between “gene-edited” and “transgenic,” and introducing a coherent, science-based approach... (MORE - missing details)