This article was from FOX News online last Friday. I can't find the link again today. Thom Bradley Chesapeake, Virginia Bio-Engineered Honey Could Help Medicine Go Down > 9.14 a.m. ET (1314 GMT) June 24, 1999 > > LONDON - Dutch researchers are breeding genetically modified plants whose > nectar could be used to produce honey containing drugs or vaccines, New > Scientist magazine said Wednesday. > Scientists at the Center for Plant Breeding and Reproduction Research in > Wageningen are adding genes for various drugs to the plants to produce a > healing nectar. > > They discovered a genetic switch, or promoter, that activates the genes in > > the nectary of the plant where the nectar is made. The switch is specific > to > the nectary so the drugs are produced only in the nectar. > > "It's a production system that would require very little purification," > Tineke Creemers told New Scientist magazine. > > The genetically modified honey could either be fed to patients or the > drugs > could be taken from it. > > Creemers and her colleagues are using a similar system to grow genetically > > modified petunias to produce a vaccine against a dog disease called > parvovirus. > > "Once the plants are fully grown and begin producing nectar, bees will be > unleashed on them to produce honey that the researchers hope will contain > the vaccine," the magazine added. > > The study is restricted to greenhouses so the researchers can guarantee > the > bees are only feeding on the modified plants. > > The scientists are also looking into whether the sugar in honey will act > as > a preservative which could be a big advantage for vaccination programs in > tropical countries which lack large supplies of refrigeration equipment. >