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