Excerpts from:

>Transgenic Poultry and Insects: Invited Response
>Nils Uddenberg, Associate Professor
>Institute for Futures Studies, Sweden
>
>Now some comments on insects. Here, the ethical issues are quite
>different. Insects probably are not sentient beings in the same way
>as poultry. Even if bees are popular insects, few people feel
>empathy with them as they do with poultry. Many insects are even
>considered disgusting and ugly. You can't look deep into their eyes.
>Surely, both ethical issues and public reactions will be very
>different.
>
>My personal belief is that bees resistant to pesticides will be met
>with the same skepticism as
>herbicide-resistant crops. Many people reject the use of various
>chemicals used in agriculture. These people will certainly be
>reluctant to accept the use of pesticide-resistant bees for
>pollination. I am not quite sure their reaction is rational ( I know
>too little about what could be gained by using such bees).
>Insecticides are used anyway and it is thus not a question of
>spraying or not spraying, but of what is sprayed and why. However, I
>am quite sure that it will be up to the producers to convince the
>general public of the advantages connected with using for instance
>genetically manipulated bees in the way suggested by Dr. Kimura.
>
>Transgenic birds and transgenic insects are new fields of research.
>Personally, I feel a bit uneasy that these technologies will be
>developed without the general public being informed. ... Researchers
>and gene technologists must take time not only to inform general
>people but also to listen to the reactions from the public. It is a
>question of communication, not instruction or information. It is
>very important that such a dialogue is established. Gene technology
>is too powerful a tool to be developed without the general public
>having opportunities to observe what is going on.


Comment:

Monsanto and others have touted genetic engineering as a way to
*reduce pesticide use*. With products like "BT Corn", this might be
true. But with others, like "RoundUp-Ready Soybeans", or
"Pesticide-Ready Honey Bees", we are headed in precisely the opposite
direction. Here our commentator says: "It is very important that such
a dialogue is established." That is what I have tried to do.

pb