Here is my read on the general situation:

RNAi technology (and other related technologies) are general purpose in that specific viruses, bacteria, and perhaps larger organisms can be precisely targeted...probably with ease and speed.

Bees have very little to do with any of this.  Beeologics was formed as a vehicle to sell the technology....CEO with a tech background (Intel, PBX, software startups) with experience building companies up in order to sell them.  They had to start with something, and CCD was big in the media at the time, perhaps the genome being mapped had something to do with it, so IAPV became the proof of concept (note that Beeologics still cites Diana Cox-Foster from 2007 to support IAPV as a cause of CCD on their website:
http://www.beeologics.com/ccd.asp

Monsanto is not terribly interested in Bees (as I've pointed out before, self pollinating plants are probably more their style), but it was in bees where the RNAi technology resides, so they bought the whole thing.

This particular approach is not technically "GMO", and doesn't necessarily persist in the bee...but it seems possible (likely?) that RNAi can be developed that will use the organism to manufacture more of it...perhaps once a year treatments?

I hope I'm not giving anyone ideas, but if I were Monsanto, I'd go around to the Almonds (where 3/4 of the hives are in one relatively small area) and take tons of samples....from that, produce a "Monsanto Juice Du Jour", with this years diseases specifically targeted.

Of course, like all utopian ideals, "curing all disease" has a dark side.  If disease is no longer a problem, who will breed for disease resistance?  Who will care if for 2, 5, 20, $50/hive you can cure it all?  Just medicate and select for the most productive.

We will end up with bees that are like dairy cows that can't feed themselves.  Bees totally dependent on Monsanto's product line.  Even those trying to do otherwise will most likely acquire some of this RNAi from robbing, drifting, and the movement of migratory bees....how will they select for resistant stock?

deknow

"The perils of benefactors
The blessings of parasites
Blindness, blindness and sight"

-Joni Mitchel, Shadows and Light

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