James writes:
>The point of the effort is not to manipulate DNA.  No one will be
>manipulating DNA to attempt to create a "Super Bee"


However, in the "White Paper for a Honey Bee Genome Project" you can read:

>[the] HBGP is necessary for efficient genomic bio-prospecting

and as I quoted before, Daniel Weaver says:

>As a honey bee breeder, I am particularly excited about what the
  >sequence information could do to accelerate breeding superior honey
  >bees. The information gleaned from the HBGP will dramatically
  >improve our ability to develop new strains of honey bees that resist
  >parasites and disease, tolerate insecticide exposure and exhibit
  >reduced defensive behavior.


So I say, wrong James. They DO want to manipulate DNA, they DO want
to breed a "superior honey bee". I suggest you and everyone else get
a copy of the proposal and read it. This technology is NOT
"value-neutral" and it is NOT just about science. Genomic
bio-prospecting is mainly about making money. Which is not a bad
thing, of course, but who says it won't get out of hand? There is
ample evidence that companies like Monsanto do NOT have a handle on
where their patented genes are going. And we still don't have a
solution to all the problems the nuclear power industry created.

--

Peter Borst <[log in to unmask]>