Pest control biotechnology

Review of Present Legislation. In Canada, the primary federal acts that have been developed for the regulation of chemicals and which could potentially be utilized to regulate biotechnology are the Pest Control Products Act (PCP Act), the Food and Drugs Act (F D Act) and the Environmental Contaminants Act (EC Act). 

This book is divided into four sections, each dealing with topics related to agricultural chemicals, pest control, and crop production. The first section deals with some of the recent developments in plant cell and tissue culture. The diversity of methodology presented in this section reflects the quickly evolving state-of-the-art areas of biotechnology and underlines the... 

Biotechnology currently emphasizes microscale aspects that were not visible or envisioned until about 150 years ago, including (1) microbes (2) stereochemistry of reactions, molecular biology including transcription of genetic codes and translation for protein production and cell multiplication and (3) enzymes as catalysts. Humans came to only partially understand the nature of systems (animals, plants, insects, and soil) they handled in agriculture. Modern biotechnology must address needs of these systems, as well as those of people. Animals and plants must be healthy and adequately nourished, the pests (weeds and insects) controllable, the soil kept productive, and all must function in acceptable harmony if the quality of human life is to be sustained or improved as the population increases. 

Included in the special conference of the Division of Pesticide Chemistry were symposia on Control of Plant Growth, Control of Insect Growth," Control of Pests with Natural Products, and Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering. The first three symposia comprise the three major sections of the book. Additionally, a chapter on The Impact of Biotechnology on Crop Improvement is included. 

Additionally, a poster session was held during the conference under the direction of Bruce D. Hammock that consisted of 15 presentations. From these, seven manuscripts and two abstracts were submitted, of which six and the abstracts are included in the section on Control of Insect Growth. The other is included in the section on Control of Pests with Natural Products. Finally, chapters based on the banquet address by John H. Law and on Biotechnology in Crop Improvement by John T. Marvel are also included in the section on Control of Pests with Natural Products. ... 

Tony Hooper (Rothamsted Research, UK) discussed local applications of push-pull insect-control strategies with plant-derived semiochemicals and pheromones in the control of crop pests. For example a sudan grass trap crop reduced the number of stem borers on maize grown in adjacent plots. Five thousand African farmers have already been involved in a practical test of the methodology which exploits plant diversity in a very creative way. It was an excellent example of an understanding of chemistry and biotechnology being put to practical use in a local context. 

We hope that this book will contribute to the understanding and subsequent adoption of additional concepts and research strategies for the control of pests. We believe that biotechnology, with all its ramifications, will contribute to the common good of public health, economic vigor, and the overall quality of life. We also hope that this book will serve as a tool to identify unifying themes by which biotechnology can be applied to control the pests of crop plants. 

Wraight SP, Carruthers RI. Production, delivery and use of mycoinsecticides for control of insect pests on field crops. In Hall FR, Menn JJ, eds. Methods in Biotechnology 5, Biopesticides Use and Delivery. Totowa, NJ Humana Press, 1999, pp 233-269. 

On the other hand, numerous examples have shown that introduction of organisms to new environments can have far reaching effects. Certain attempts at biological control of pests and accidental releases or importation are cited frequently as examples of the potential disasters that await any environmental releases of products of modern biotechnology. It is interesting to note when some of these events occurred the mongoose was imported from Calcutta to Jamaica in 1872 to control rats in sugar cane fields Kudzu vine was introduced to the southern U.S. to control erosion in... 

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