Random Thoughts on Recombinant Insects

This book discusses the development of transgenic pink bollworm for use in eradicating a major pest insect from the Arizona cotton fields. After pink bollworm invaded California from Arizona around 1968, the California Cotton Pest Control Board and California Department of Food and Agriculture combined to adopt the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) to keep pink bollworm from invading the San Joaquin Valley where the majority of cotton is grown. This book describes attempts to seek government approval to use transgenic pink bollworm that were ultimately unsuccessful despite the approach being the most sustainable and environmentally friendly technology ever invented. Opposition to genetically modified insects used in the SIT strategy, therefore, is very difficult to explain. The second half of the book (random thoughts) addresses this and other attitudes towards biotechnology and other modern technologies including insecticides that remain contentious.