On Thu, 21 Mar 1996, Susan W. Cobey wrote: > Vince wrote; > > I'm not opposed to the importation of semen but I am not sure we > are ready for it. If we had the semen from a truly resistant line, we > would still have to do all the very expensive selection and assay work > that it took in the the first place, or the traits will be lost. Roy write; We have plenty of examples or what happens if you don't improve your product.There is a training movie about paradigm changes. The Swiss use to make most of the world watches.At a science expo the quartz watch was shown. The Swiss did not change , but Japan got on board and the rest is history. 17,000 watch makes were out of work and the swiss droped to a very small market share. What Sue Cobey said about a small step is just what it is.We need that step to keep going ahead. In the big picture , getting the semen in to the USA is just a spot that is needed. We have some very good Queen breeders and they need the best stock that they can get. The beekeepers will buy good stock. This is a win - win deal for breeders.The better the product the more sales in the long run. We need some very strong support for co-op breeding programs. Spread out the work. This is not a cake walk , it is a very complex genetic problem. Thanks for your time Roy