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Why Plant Pathology Is Newsworthy
No one doubts the significant impact that modern medicine (particularly
antibiotics) has had in fighting disease and prolonging our life span.
Yet few are aware of the vital role that plant pathology has played, and
continues to play, in feeding our growing population and maintaining the
health of the plants that sustain us.
Like human diseases, plant diseases have often shaped the course of
history. Consider the fact that had plant pathology been at its current
stage of sophistication, thousands of people would have been saved from
starvation when, in the 1840s, potato late blight disease devastated the
potato harvests and led to the Irish potato famine.
Even today, we often stand at the precipice of disaster. Plant diseases
such as soybean rust, citrus canker and citrus greening, and stem rust
of wheat, pose a definite threat to the agriculture industry. Read our
fact sheets for more on recent hot topics in
plant pathology.
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