GM  FLY  KILLS  ITS  OWN
 
Two items:
1.     Deadly fly to aid farm crops - The Mirror
2.   WARNING - Scientists Create GM Killer - Michel Dussandier
*  *  *
1. GENETICALLY MODIFIED TO KILL ITS OWN - Deadly fly to aid farm crops
    The Mirror, 10 March 2001   http://www.mirror.co.uk/shtml/NEWS/P35S4.shtml
 

BRITISH scientists have developed the world's first unnatural born killer - a genetically modified fly that seeks out and destroys its own species.

It will be used to wipe out the larvae of moths and flies which attack crops mirroring a story in cult sci-fi series The X-Files. Geneticist Dr Luke Alphey, who heads the project, said: "It's a bit like that episode where Mulder and Scully discover a swarm of bees used to spread an alien virus."

The GM flies are created by inserting a normally fatal strand of DNA into insect eggs before adding an antidote.  When the genetically modified swarm is released, the insects seek out a
mate and unwittingly pass on the deadly gene to their young.

With no antidote available in the wild, the next generation dies ensuring the eventual extinction of the species.

Dr Alphey said: "The advantage is you can target one species very precisely because your killers will only mate with their own kind. "That means you can keep going until you get the last one and basically wipe them out.

"At the same time, other species are not harmed as they could be by using chemical sprays so it is environmentally friendly.""

Dr Alphey's project follows the American Sterile Insect Technique which releases billions of irradiated insects. The sterilised insects find mates but are unable to breed so the population
is gradually reduced.

The United States has used SIT to wipe out the cow-eating New World Screw Worm Fly across much of Central America.

Dr Alphey's experiments on the harmless Drosophila fly have proved successful and the first pest on the hitlist is the cotton-eating bollworm larvae.

His American colleagues will next month release a swarm of bollworm moths in Arizona modified to glow in the dark.  Researchers will monitor their breeding patterns and movement before
deciding whether to breed and release killer bollworm moths.
*  *  *
2.  WARNING  - Scientists Create GM Killer

Hello lists

Below, a paper on GE arthropods, as a follow up of "GE insects coming" posted on IATP biotech activists list.

This sounded so crazy to me... I've searched (and found) the data on people being likely to decide, and allow or not these "experimentations" in this new lab called Earth.

1: See http://www.aphis.usda.gov:80/biotech/arthropod/tgenteam.html
It gives names, telephone and email of a so called "Transgenic Arthropod Team" supposed to "guide" GE research and tests. See also : http://www.aphis.usda.gov/biotech/bssstaff.html

I've just sent all of them this email  :
--
Subject: U.S.A. about to release living pollution

Attn: Orrey P. Young <orrey.young@usda.gov> Environmental Protection
Officer; Ecologist Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Biotechnology Evaluation?BSS USDA?APHIS?PPQ

Cc: biotechnologist@usda.gov, vedpal.s.malik@usda.gov,
kenneth.r.lakin@usda.gov, michael.j.firko@usda.gov,
ralph.d.stoaks@usda.gov, don.c.vacek@usda.gov,
michael.j.oraze@usda.gov, lauren.l.jones@usda.gov,
michael.j.firko@usda.gov, james.l.white@usda.gov,
david.s.heron@usda.gov, susan.m.koehler@usda.gov,
robert.i.rose@usda.gov, craig.r.roseland@usda.gov,
john.t.turner@usda.gov, dianne.hatmaker@usda.gov,
anita.drummond@usda.gov, mary.e.jackson@usda.gov,
linda.lightle@usda.gov, kay.peterson@usda.gov, kimberly.l.diggs@usda.gov

Dear Dr. Young,

Chemicals already destroyed large parts of our milieu. And now, according to the press, you're close to allow the release of GE insects (arthropods) in the wild in order to "protect" industrially produced cotton.

You, scientists, will have to take full responsibility for this.

Industrial agriculture have no other way than polluting, sterilizing and killing.

Heard about "killer bees"? There was no more than a dozen queens imported to Brazil. Not even genetically engineered. Now they're invading the united states of america.

You at the U.S.A. "Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service" ARE NOT EVEN ABLE
TO STOP ORDINARY BEES, AND YOU WANT TO RELEASE GM INSECTS ?

Michel Dussandier, Citizen of the World, France