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NATURE WARS III

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

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NATURE WARS III

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

  2. Ch.7: Bees and Other Beneficials • Moving pollinating bees, not for honey, but to make fruit and vegetable production possible. • Not necessary until 20th 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:FRANKENSTEINPLANTSIII • 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?

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