Biotechnology and new integrated pest management approaches

Area-wide pest management technologies will take on new appearances as the drive to eliminate and/or greatly reduce the use of chemical pesticides increases. The use of genetically altered insects has the most potential for successfully displacing certain pesticides, although the development of genetic engineering technologies for agricultural pest species is still in its infancy. Transformation vectors need to be developed as do transformation methodologies. Here we report the possibility of developing an interspecies vector and discuss ways in which such a vector could be used successfully in an integrated pest management system. If such an approach were developed, it could be utilized with other alternative methods, thereby providing a safe, ecologically sound means of controlling insect pests without damaging the agricultural economy.