The Belgian company Plant Genetic Systems announced last week that it expects the receive the first U.S. patent for a series of genetically engineered plants. Insects that will be affected by the plants include the corn borer, cotton bollworm, tomato budworm, armyworm and the diamondback moth. The farm is designed to mass-produce insects to be used in place of pesticides and herbicides. The new farm, called Alcatraz, is six feet tall and four feet wide. A nutritional gel is poured through the holes of a mesh screen hung inside Alcatraz to serve as a breeding ground.
Computers monitor temperature, humidity and air flow.
Mr. Kolodny-Hirsch, one of the inventors, said his company is working to perfect the farm and explore other methods of commercial insect breeding. The biotechnology company Centocor, Inc. of Malvern, PA halted clinical trials of its drug HA-1A due to an unexpectedly high number of patient deaths. HA-1A has been hailed as a lifesaving drug for patients suffering from a bacterial infection called septic shock. The drug was already on the market in Europe under the name Centoxin and sales have been halted. But it certainly doesn't expedite U.S. approval.