Laugh Loud and Often

The fear of the dreaded Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter to Californian grape growers is as real a threat as monsters of b-rated movies of the '60s to good taste. A vector and transmitter of a bacterium that causes Pierce's disease that kills grapevines and other plants, the half-inch-long leafhopper has the potential to wipe out the North Coast's four billion dollar wine industry.

If you're a conspiracy buff, then you and I have come to the same conclusion: the French and Italians have somehow smuggled the nasty bug passed the ever watchful USDA.

Bioengineering techniques have been enlisted in recent years in the efforts to control and contain the Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter. Though experiments to produce an environmentally-sound, Sharpshooter-only predator has eluded various government agencies and private biotech firms for years, a breakthrough has come in the form of the first stable, genetically engineered mantis that has a voracious appetite for the invasive Sharpshooter.

With the proposed common name of Long-Neck Mantis, researchers at federally-funded laboratories are working round-the-clock to breed the bio-pesticide in large quantity for a summer release. No date has been set for the coordinated release of millions of Long-Neck Mantises in suspected Sharpshooter-infested agricultural regions.

Biotechnology offers nothing at present for grapes. But the prospect of one day engineering insect resistance to protect vines against pests is among the reasons several grape growers said they planned to oppose the ballot initiative.

Steve Dutton, whose Dutton Estate Winery is known for its chardonnay, said he hoped the genetic engineers would be able to modify grapes so they can resist disease spread by the glassy-winged sharpshooter, a leaf-hopping insect. More from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ->