James and all
I am sorry that this topic is so dull that you didn't actually read
what I posted. In 1998, they were saying: "Thus, transgenic bees are
far from becoming reality." But in 2002 they are saying: "Smith has
preliminary success making transgenic bees by inseminating a queen
with semen mixed with a DNA construct". This may be just the
technique they need to insert new material into a honey bee egg.

James's central argument is that there is not enough money to do the
types of things that many of these researchers wish to do (Dr.
Kiyoshi Kimura said in 1996 "my final goal is to make a transgenic
honey bees"). One of the basic purposes of getting the honey bee
accepted as one of the few species to be entirely mapped is
*precisely* to draw big money. The initial mapping will cost
somewhere around $7 million dollars.

The impact here has many aspects. One, money draws money. If people
are sinking a lot of money into mapping the bee genome, other
researchers will use this as justification to ask for money for their
projects. Two, the honey bee may supplant the drosophila as the
insect of choice for the study of genes. Why? Precisely because of
honey bee's complex social system and high level of intelligent
interaction (fruit flies have none of this).

Furthermore, the Honey Bee Genome Project promises to attract
researchers who have no particular interest in bees, because of the
money and the potential for ground-breaking discoveries. Now, some
would say: great, our insect is finally going to get some respect.
Others might think we were better off when we were considered to be a
little known minority going around with weird hats and smoke pots.
Despite what has been said, I am not trying to advance a point of
view, other than we need to talk about this.

I wish we could really discuss this, instead of just sending out
smart little messages making fun of each other. I regard this as a
serious topic and have put quite a bit of effort into digging out the
facts. Perhaps someday I will be saying to my children "Well, I tried
to get people to talk about that back in 2002, but they laughed and
said don't worry about it". I quote Nils Uddenberg, Associate
Professor, Institute for Futures Studies, Sweden:

>Finally, transgenic birds and transgenic insects are new fields of
>research. Personally, I feel a bit uneasy that these technologies
>will be developed without the general public being informed. ... May
>I finish by stressing that researchers and gene technologists must
>take time not only to inform general people but also to listen to
>the reactions from the public. It is a question of communication,
>not instruction or information. It is very important that such a
>dialogue is established. Gene technology is too powerful a tool to
>be developed without the general public having opportunities to
>observe what is going on.




See: Kiyoshi Kimura, "Searching For The Best Condition For
Micro-Injection Of Honeybee Embryos", The Second International
Workshop on Transgenesis of Invertebrate Organisms, 1997. See also
his "The Current Status of Transgenic Research in Insects", 1997.


--

Peter Borst <[log in to unmask]>