The following statement appeared on Bee-L
> He had isolated the genes which caused aggression and had sent semen to the lab from AHb without the aggressive genes.

My response:
Evidently Dr. Kerr worked hard and long on the problem of aggressive bees but he was unable to succeed. 
His solution was to raise many thousands of Italian queens, but in the long run, this had no real or lasting effect.

Dr. Charles Michener wrote, in 1975:

In view of the effect of the Brazilian bee on apiculture and because of the public
outcry against it, W. E. Kerr produced and supplied to beekeepers queens of
European bees (mostly Italians) with the objective of diminishing the undesirable
features of Brazilian bees. In 1963-1964 200 Italian queens mated primarily with
Italian drones were distributed; in 1965-1972 23,000 virgin Italian (including a few
Caucasian) queens were distributed. W. E. Kerr is convinced that this program
played a significant role in improving the characteristics of the bees over a wide area,
in spite of reports that some beekeepers killed the queens (especially those mated
to Italian drones) because of their belief that the European attributes included lower
honey production. 

Changes in bee management resulting from use of the Brazilian bee in Brazil
include (a) dispersal of hives into scattered small apiaries, (b) wide dispersal
of hives within apiaries and facing them in different directions to reduce interactions
among bees of nearby colonies, (c) use of large smokers and other special
equipment. In Bolivia the gas N2O at night has been recommended to
anesthetize the bees while hives are being worked. In southern Brazil
some beekeepers make large fires on one side of the apiary to blanket it with smoke
before working hives.

In southernmost Brazil, in a climate to which the Italian bee is probably well
adapted, serious efforts are being made to maintain populations of Italian bees in
spite of the feral Brazilian bees. This is only possible with queen excluders at
the hive entrances to prevent queens in swarms of Brazilian bees from entering. In
Argentina and Bolivia also, acceptance of Brazilian bees is far less complete than
in the honey-producing states of Brazil.

THE BRAZILIAN BEE PROBLEM
Charles D. Michener. 1975

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