1. NATURE WARS III  ISS 310  Spring 2002  Prof. Alan Rudy  Tuesday, April 23  Chapters 7 & 8  Questions?  Main Points?

2. Ch.7: Bees and Other Beneficials  Moving pollinating bees, not for honey, but to make fruit and vegetable production possible.  Not necessary until 20 th C… before: plenty of species of native bees coevolved with local plant species and crops… 5000 species in N. Am. Monocropping and pesticides have radically reduced wild bee populations and necessitated managed bee industrialization.  Rather than change agriculture to foster and enhance feral bee populations and activity, we went with scientific management. -- remember Vancouver urban planning?

3. Ch.7: Bees and Other Beneficials II  Only recently have environmentalists begun to take notice of this kind of environmental concern.  Keys: Pesticides Monocropping Habitat Destruction High Managed Bee Populations  Honey Bee introduced for honey, adapted to pollination. Honey Bee populations devastated first by the European tracheal mite and then the Asian varroa mite – each accidentally introduced.

4. Ch.7: Bees and Other Beneficials III  Importation/xenotransplanted species often generate real bad pest problems  PARASITORY AND PREDATORY PEST CONTROL INSECTS “If there ever was a ‘balance of nature,’ we have eliminated it, and much of contemporary agriculture is designed to restore the balance through management…” (122)

5. Ch.7: Bees and Other Beneficials IV  Imported pests have led to imported pest control insects.  Imported plant pests have also occurred and done damage – sometimes successfully address with imported “natural” biological controls.  Know Winston’s account of C.V. Riley, citrus scale and Australian beetles.

6. Ch.7: Bees and Other Beneficials V  Greatest experimentation with biological control from 1900-1945, the pesticides doom most plans by killing not only pests but also natural killers.  Major natural killers: wasps mites nematodes fish beetles bacteria fungi viruses

7. Ch.7: Bees and Other Beneficials VI  St. Johns Wort (Klamath weed) infestation treated successfully with beetles.  Post-WWII: DECLINE IN NATURAL ENEMIES RESEARCH  Rooted largely in pesticide applications – often led to more/new/worse pest outbreaks then before.  No private industry doing this because of limited profitability – also “nature” takes over while, with pesticides folks with pest problems always have to come back to the commercial well (foreshadowing biotech.)  Only major markets are greenhouses.

8. Ch.7: Bees and Other Beneficials VII  APPLIED BIO-NOMICS  Small, elite private business in snooty retirement area of Vancouver Island.  Issues of complexity of, poorly thought out, and over-regulation of natural enemies industry.  “What we have lost is nature.” (139)

9. Ch. 8: FRANKENSTEIN PLANTS  GMOs: mixing and matching genes recombinantly or transgenically.  who do you trust, scientists, activists, or regulators (or….)  “miracle cures come with a price.”  This stuff IS different than breeders who have to work with very closely related crops and animals  Natural plant resistance co-evolved with pests over millenia – biotech works in 5 year increments.

10. Ch. 8: FRANKENSTEIN PLANTS II  Winston claims close, intensive, and well-regulated tests indicate that the things developed so far are pretty safe. Toxin-producing plants Plants with herbicide resistance –resist herbicide binding. –overproduce protein herbicide destroys –produce enzymes to degrade/digest herbicide  Major public-private collaborations and competitions for research moneys/patents (newly legal).

11. Ch. 8: FRANKENSTEIN PLANTS III  Critics: human health risks from consumption genes jumping from crops to weeds increased herbicide use accelerated pest resistance  Regulatory agency strictness but reasonableness No labeling of consumption goods. Beware allergies – one caught already.

12. Ch. 8: FRANKENSTEIN PLANTS IV  Real worries gene jumping increased herbicide use resistance –too effective, boom resistance –who’s going to regulate/enforce “refuges?” –already happening – Bt cotton  Fred Gould, NCSU

13. CONCLUSION  HERE’S THE DEAL:   THERE IS NOT DISCUSSION OF THE SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF THIS TECHNOLOGY (esp. around TERMINATOR technology).  The only issues are environmental- and health- related… what social consequences of environmentalism and public health advocacy in Gary, IN?