"Genomic manipulations are possible; Consortium member Smith has
preliminary success making
transgenic bees by inseminating a queen with semen mixed with a DNA
construct ..."
  -- Proposal for the Sequencing of a New Target Genome: White Paper
for a Honey Bee Genome Project,  The Honey Bee Genome Sequencing
Consortium

"One of the most interesting projects I am working on at OSU has been
continuing the transgenic honeybee work that Dr. Holly Ferguson began
with Sue Cobey. "
  -- Kellie Wallace, current student at The Rothenbuhler Honey Bee
Research Laboratory, Departmentof Entomology, The Ohio State
University

"I do have reservations about the current focus on transgenic insects
because the lure of this technology is so great that much, more
meaningful, work has been displaced. In essence, I regard our present
direction regarding transgenics as an enormous, and enormously
expensive, gamble."
-- Andrew Spielman, a professor of Tropical Public Health at Harvard University

One problem that most concerns Marjorie Hoy, an entomologist at the
University of Florida, is the inadequate regulation of transgenic
insects. Hoy notes that broadly written regulations will be unlikely
to provide adequate guidance to the researcher and protect against
environmental problems. Presently, there are no regulations that
specifically address transgenic insects. Several years ago, Hoy
conducted a trial of a genetically modified mite. In the lab, she
found that the added gene functioned normally for almost 200
generations. But once the mite was tested in the field, the gene
stopped working.


--

Peter Borst <[log in to unmask]>