Tech | October 05, 2011 | 18 comments

Monsanto buys Beeologics: will this genetically modify bees?

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JanforGore
Monsanto Co. announced Wednesday that it had bought Beeologics, a company that is developing a product that promises to help bees survive an illness that has been wiping out colonies across the world.

Creve Coeur-based Monsanto, the world's largest seed company, did not disclose the terms of the sale.

Beeologics, a research company founded in 2007 with headquarters in Florida and Israel, has developed a product called Remembee, which is an anti-viral agent that the company's researchers believe could stem the impact of colony collapse disorder. The mysterious disorder has decimated honeybee populations around the globe, with far-reaching implications for agriculture.

"While the investment is an enabling technology for us, we're absolutely committed to Beeologics' existing work," explained Kelly Powers, a Monsanto spokesperson. "I don't need to tell you how important bees are to farmers who rely on pollination, and Remembee has great promise, pending approvals."

Remembee is still subject to further trials, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is currently reviewing Remembee for approval, Powers noted.

Remembee, according to Beeologics' website, utilizes RNA interference, a mechanism that blocks gene expression. The company claims that the agent has proved effective in mitigating the effects of a virus that may be linked to the disorder.

Bees are the "workhorses" of agriculture, pollinating everything from almonds to alfalfa, and an estimated $14 billion in American crops rely on bees for pollination. Since the disorder was first reported in late 2006, it has been confounding scientists who have blamed everything from mites to pesticides to travel-related stress. Bee colonies are shipped around the country, from field to field, for pollination. In recent years, partly because of colony collapse disorder, farmers have been paying increasingly high rates for pollination via rented hives.


Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/19f6f7b2-1c8a-50f8-b84f-47c351ec044d.html...

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18 comments // Monsanto buys Beeologics: will this genetically modify bees?

  • treewolf39
  • treewolf39
    • 0
      treewolf39  
    • treewolf39:

      I am not trying to sell this shirt though I may buy a few. Going after the bees, I am surprised Monsanto took so long. My neighbors have started producing honey and I am working toward keeping bees myself. I wish I could think of one good or necessary thing that Monsanto has sold to the world.

    • 1 year ago
  • warman1138
    • +1
      warman1138  
    • It's all about patent rights and ownership of lifeforms essential to food production hence control and control equals power and wealth.

    • 1 year ago
  • mhaarts
  • JanforGore
  • mhaarts
  • queenofit
    • +3
      queenofit  
    • Oh great, now they are going to work on the Bees? I cannot tell you how many times I have said this regarding another valuable resource they decide to play havoc with, each time thinking it cannot get any worse, and yet they (monsanto) never fail to move the bar even (not sure to call it, higher or lower) and screw around with another vital part of our eco system. I am appalled.

    • 1 year ago
  • ecoalex
    • +2
      ecoalex  
    • I'm guessing Monsanto will breed GM bees that are immune to nicotinic pesticides the cause of sudden colony collapse disorder.They will breed bees that seem to have an immunity to this class of pesticides,extract the dna,and inject it into pupae of developing honey bees,then they will reproduce and multiply this GM trait.

    • 1 year ago
  • lightningthunderfox
    • 0
      lightningthunderfox  
    • i believe that those in power believe in superstitions. they believe that by killing and destroying life in certain areas and certain ways that this offends god or in favore of another god. I think they use the Earth as a guide to unlocking power by destroying life certain spots, ( like acupunture).

      (or if you are a FMA:brotherhood anime fan then they are creating a human transmutation to make philosopher stones)
      (or the basic plot of John Shirleys book DEMONS)

      so two outcomes

      1. if they ARE correct and they know they are because they have got the evidence in THIS LIFE .. if they really do get some kind of power or gain knowlegde or even immortality from destruction then we are all screwed and we have been for thousands of years.

      2.They are wrong. Superstitions do not exist and they just do this satanic rituals in hope of getting these powers in the afterlife. Which means we would have to erase our society. completely destroy any way of anyone ever coming across the ideas of superstitions while throwing out any form of Power from religious power to the power of money and even the power of the people.

      so two choices. the first the world goes on with the systematic wars genicide poision destruction that could last for years or millenia +(( but it will END with the complete destrution of our earth and perhaps the universe if we last that long))+. while society waves back and forth between oppression and ignorince.

      or second choice. which may lead to a static general way of life for humans that may or maynot be better then the life we currently have but will last forever. this choise invovles first a breakdown of society with death and destrution same as choice number one which this generation would go through without ever seeing the positives of choice number two.

    • 1 year ago
  • hombre76
    • +2
      hombre76  
    • so let me get this strait. the problem is these bees have a genetic problem that can be fixed with this RNA treatment and the company that prduces the majority of GMO food crops on which these bee colonies probably have fed on and are more thanlikely to have gotten their genetic disorder from, has now bought the cure to that disorder. no thats not suspicious at all....not at all......

    • 1 year ago
  • bailey78
    • +2
      bailey78  
    • Look the last time someone screwed with the bees it pissed them off and now we have pissed off bees. So leave the fucking bees alone

    • 1 year ago
  • mybologna
  • JanforGore
  • artemis6
    • +3
      artemis6  
    • We need to take back our power from these psychotic corporations , pronto ! There is NO GOOD can come from them altering the bees !

    • 1 year ago
  • Paratus
    • +2
      Paratus  
    • artemis6:

      Voted up. Colony collapse disorder as a result of pesticides and GMO crap, for want of a better way of putting it, has wrecked havoc with the bee population. If Monsanto gets its hooks in this I don't see anything good coming from it. Think I'll get an apiary. None of the farmers aroound here use that stuff.

    • 1 year ago
  • artemis6
  • JanforGore
    • +4
      JanforGore  
    • "Remembee, according to Beeologics' website, utilizes RNA interference, a mechanism that blocks gene expression"

      They will now genetically alter bees with God knows what unintended consequences and commoditize their plight. I am sickened. But I bet the FDA will approve this.
      LEAVE NATURE ALONE!

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
    • +4
      JanforGore  
    • This is the message I just sent to Monsanto and one of their "scientists" regarding this (that will never see the light of day on their bs PR blog) :

      Monsanto cares about nothing but their profits. And this is just a deflection because they know systemic pesticides and GMOS have been proposed as part of CCD, so what's the answer instead of seriously working to fix this? Why, find a way to genetically modify the bees.That shows a clear disrespect for nature. And of course, wait until the problem becomes so acute that you rake in even more money from selling this garbage to up your market share that is falling because Round Up is a toxic failure. You think people don't know what you all are? If you claim to be a "scientist" and you work for them, you are no scientist.
      ____________
      This is a classic example to me of a company covering its a** by buying what they say is a cure to a disease and saying it is viral when that has not been established because they must suspect it is the pesticides and seeds they make that is part of it. So they buy the company to make people think they are caring, when they will just continue to make profit from what is causing it by deflecting it to another source. And notice the timing of this just when reports about neonicotinoids are exposing Round Up and other toxic chemicals for what they are.

      These people are despicable.

      Hey Monsanto, how's that SEC investigation going?

    • 1 year ago
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