HONEY BEES BEING TRAINED TO DETECT LAND MINES

HONEY BEES BEING TRAINED TO DETECT LAND MINES

RICHLAND, Wash. (Wireless Flash) -- James Bond better save his money because a hive of bees may soon put him out of work. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy are currently conducting tests to see if honey bees can be trained as intelligence agents to smoke out land mines on enemy battlefields. It seems chemicals from land mines often leach into nearby plants and flowers. The leaching allows scientists to determine if a land mine in the area just by looking for polluted pollen on the bees. Researchers are hopeful they can train bees to make a beeline straight to land mine-infected plants and alert authorities. However, the idea of bee bomb detector squads isn't setting too well with some animal rights activists. A spokesperson for the Animal Protection Institute says the group is offended by the program because, in his words, "Bees aren't U.S. citizens so they shouldn't be forced into military service."

CONTACT: Staci West (DOE contact); Seattle, WA; (509) 372-6313; Lawrence Carter-Long (API); Sacramento, CA; (916) 731-5521, ext. 215