Re: You won't believe this - Buzzz bzzzzzzzzzz


"jimstevens" <jimstevens@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:a5qlf257pgc909m9b0gph9jno1nc6k5582@xxxxxxxxxx
Defense bill includes funding for landmine detection bees

By Peter Cohn, CongressDaily
In an fiscal 2007 Defense appropriations bill of roughly $468 billion,
it is easy to overlook a mere $5 million for a new defensive weapons
system -- using honey bees to find landmines and other buried
explosives.

But if Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., and University of Montana
researcher Jerry Bromenshenk have their way, a homegrown Montana
business consortium could soon be developing and marketing a new
tracking system for a variety of military and commercial uses -- all
using specially trained bees.

"There's some fascinating research going on out there at Missoula,"
said Burns, whose push for federal funds might just help him win a
tough race for re-election this fall.

Supporters say the relatively small amounts Burns included in the
Defense bill pending on the Senate floor could be the sweetener to
eventually leverage billions of dollars worth of economic development
in his state.

Working with researchers at Montana State University who have been
developing a laser tracking system to map where the bees go, as well
as native American-owned S&K Electronics, Bromenshenk has been seeking
federal funds to put together a prototype to lure private sector
investment.

"What the senator is trying to do is help us bridge that 'valley of
death' between it being just university research to the point where
it's something a little more mature," said Bromenshenk, who has formed
a company called Bee Alert Technology Inc.

"The commercial applications are incredible -- it's not just
explosives, we can use the bees to find meth[amphetamine] labs, dead
bodies and any number of other uses that I can't get into," he said.

The immediate focus is on marketing the idea of using bees to track
landmines and help locate improvised explosive devices.

"At first I thought, this has got to be a joke," a Burns aide said.
But that skepticism quickly turned into something else several years
ago, after seeing the results of tests using honey bees trained by
attuning them to the scent of TNT or other explosives -- just as they
are attracted to flowers.

"They mostly use dogs to find landmines and unexploded ordnance, but
that will endanger both the dog and the dog-handler," the aide noted.
"We saw tests where the bees would not only be attracted to the target
point, but would be buzzing around the guys who conducted the tests,
going after the hands that handled the explosives ... the
psychological influence of that could be enormous."

Bromenshenk said he has had discussions with military contractors,
although until he can put together a prototype major deals are on
hold. One potential investor, he said, is Washington, D.C-based RONCO
Consulting Corp., which specializes in worldwide de-mining activities.

"They have 4,000 dog teams working in 30-something countries, but it
could take 400 to 500 years to clean known, existing minefields, to
say nothing of the mines we don't know are out there" according to a
RAND Corp. study, Bromenshenk said. He said bees could be more
effective than dogs, reducing the amount of time needed to sweep for
mines "10 to 15-fold."

"If we could get even a piece of those 4,000 teams" to contract with
his Montana-based group, "that would be a great scenario for Montana's
economy." A RONCO official could not be reached for comment.

The problem remains getting money to get the project off the ground
and into marketable shape. After an initial period of interest by the
Pentagon's Defense Advance Research Projects Agency, backers have
found it difficult to drum up much support.

Research into using honey bees to find unexploded ordnance has fallen
out of favor at DARPA, which has funded all manner of research ranging
from mechanical elephants to a machine that can read human thoughts.

DARPA spokeswoman Jan Walker said the agency has found that honey bees
"have not proved useful" in detecting landmines and other explosives.
Despite the lack of enthusiasm, with a nod from Burns, recent DARPA
budgets contained honey bee research funds. As late as the fiscal 2005
Defense spending bill, $1.9 million was included.

Burns for the last two years has sought to insert the money directly
into the Army's research and development budget, bypassing DARPA.
Conferees agreed to include $2.8 million in the fiscal 2006 Defense
bill and the Senate has proposed to add another $5 million in the
fiscal 2007 version.

Bromenshenk and Burns' aide said Army officials have expressed
interest; an Army spokeswoman said the Defense Department had no
comment.

But judging from past Pentagon budgets -- and the fact that Burns is
up for re-election -- it stands to reason honey bees will have another
shot to try to oust their canine rivals as chief landmine-sniffers.

Heaven help them when PETA gets word of this! The PETA that I like is this
PETA (People Eating Tasty Animals).


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