Brian writes:
> Peter I sense you feel science will solve all of the problems we face now and in the future? or do you have other suggestions to help the plight of the honeybee? You poo poo any ideas of restrictions so what's your solution then?
Given a choice between science and superstition, I choose science. No,
I don't think science will solve *all* the problems. I don't think
*all* the problems will ever be solved. The biggest problem -- too
many people -- can't be solved by science, hasn't been solved by
politics, religion, or TV.
I think that the restriction of movement is unworkable and at this
time, unjustified. You can't quarantine unless you have proof that
there is something there and it is not already here. If the cause of
bee die-off is pesticides, modern agriculture, global warming, or
sunspots, quarantines won't do a bloody thing.
If it is caused by trucking, too many moves per year, overcrowding,
feeding corn syrup or drugs, then don't do it. Nobody requires
beekeepers to do these things. If a guy wrecks his bees by overworking
them, that's his problem and he will fail in business. Natural
selection will take him out of the gene pool.
* I am a firm believer that the solution to the bee industry's
problems lie in better bees. How this is going to come about, I don't
know. We have restricted imports of bees for decades, at the risk of
narrowing the genetic diversity of the bee population. If this is part
of the current problem, I don't know. Letting bees in from other
countries is fraught with peril (tropilaelaps).
When I first heard about genetically modified organisms, I thought the
same as you: this is seriously wrong, we are tinkering with things we
don't understand. But as I studied it, I saw that it held vast
potential for good (along with stem cell research) and that the GM
crops haven't caused terrible problems so far. Most of the opposition
to these scientific breakthroughs is based on fear of the unknown,
outmoded moral precepts, and peer pressure.
So when I first heard about the effort to map the honey bee genome,
and efforts to genetically modify bees, I thought: bad idea. But the
people that are at the forefront of this activity -- people like Sue
Cobey and Gene Robinson -- are not relatives of Dr. Frankenstein.
These are intelligent people and if they find a way to incorporate
some vigor from honey bee stock A into honey bee stock B, then I am
all for it. But I can already hear the hue and cry about that.
--
Peter L. Borst
Danby, NY USA
42.35, -76.50
picasaweb.google.com/peterlborst
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