Kraig Biocraft Laboratories Inc (KBLB)

[dadofduck]

Vietnamese translation of the article below:

http://khangnguyen100888.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/vi-sao-cam-nuoi-tam-lai-nhen.html

I think somebody might have posted a google translation before now but it didn't make sense so I asked a colleague to translate, below......

As spider silk is stronger than worm silk, and this material can be used in bulletproof vests, car manufacturing, genetically modified silkworm – spider hybrid silkworm is expected to bring such outstanding result. However, this application has not been allowed in Vietnam because of some reasons.
On Dec 26, the Department of Agriculture - Rural Development (MARD), Lam Dong said: MARD has just given out their official opinions on the proposal of Lam Dong Province People’s Committee in the Letter No. 53 /UBND-NN dated 11/17/2014 addressed to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development regarding the suggestion of allowing the province to have the cooperation with a foreign corporation in conducting the rearing of genetically modified silkworm – spider hybrid silkworm. According to the Document No. 10 246 / BNN-CN of MARD, Lam Dong temporarily won’t conduct the project with the reason that we do not have enough capability to manage the livestock which is a strange breed with genetic modification as the spider hybrid silkworm.
Results of a new study
According to a Letter of Proposal of Lam Dong Province, the sericulture of spider hybrid silkworm is a completely new field of agricultural production in Vietnam, and of course in Lam Dong province - one of the key locals of sericulture. According to this document, recently, Kraig Biocraft Laboratores Group (KBL) has raised the issue of cooperation with Lam Dong in carrying out the testing module of spider hybrid silkworm sericulture to take the silk and Lam Dong has agreed with the policy. However, according to the Letter from Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, this program can be stopped.
The Letter of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, addressed that: "The management of genetically modified animals and genetically modified organisms are new areas of the world in general and Vietnam in particular. For genetically modified animals, there are very few policies in the world applied for the assessment of its impact on the environment and biodiversity, largely due to the difficulty in risk management. Currently, in Vietnam, there is no legal framework and incompetent management of this new field. "Thus, in a written response to Lam Dong province, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has requested Lam Dong temporarily not to deploy the collaboration with the KBL Group in implementing the project of genetically modified silkworm sericulture until Vietnam has a legal framework in this field. Notably, this Letter only stated the reason that because Vietnam has no legal framework in this new field, the project should be temporarily not implemented yet but it did not deny this kind of silkworm sericulture with its benefits.
According to the documents of Lam Dong DARD, not only silkworm can have silk but other insects, i.e spiders, also can do. However, up to now, most of the countries in the world only take silkworms for silk production, but no others can "compete" with silkworms. However, according to recent research by scientists around the world, spider is an insect which can produce silk like silkworms and spider silk is very special: The silk has the mechanical strength which is more superior than worm silk, it is used in military technology ( bulletproof vests manufacture), in car manufacturing technology ...
However, according to research by scientists in the world, although there are some outstanding advantages compared with worm silk, it has not been selected in our daily life by these following restrictions: The length of spider silk is usually too short (only about 20 - 30 cm compared with an average of silk yarn of 1,000m); to get spider silk fibers, it is required a special "technology" of separating silk and this work has to be done manually; and finally, breeding spider to take silk is extremely difficult to obtain, and it is totally different from silkworm breeding. It means that it is impossible to breed them into "herd" like silkworms, and the spiders which can produce the best silk eat meat, therefore, it is more difficult to breed those.
The carefulness is necessary?
Based on the studies upon the two species which both release silk, a number of scientists from the University of Wyoming (USA) has conducted a study and succeeded in: Transplanting a series of spider genes into silkworms. The silkworm with spider genes having been transplanted have produced silk whose elastic and strong quality are quite the same with spider silk but its length is similar with worm silk’s.
In other words, to the normal worm, scientists can make it genetically modified so that it can produce silk with protein which is like spider silk and this kind of silk has superior properties compared to conventional silk. With these results, the scientists set expectations towards the future that the world is fully capable of producing an entirely new kind of silk worm with genetic modification with large quantities to produce fabrics with super strength, even for the bulletproof vests manufacture...
According to scientists, the silk from genetically modified silkworms can also be applied in the medical field (wound dressings, artificial tissue frame, artificial tendons, plastic surgery ...) and in many other areas. Based on the findings of scientists from the University of Wyoming (USA), KBL Group has chosen to go to Vietnam and Lam Dong to develop the project. The reason that KBL selected Lam Dong is because this region is considered to be the "capital" of mulberry in the country, local farmers have a lot of experience in sericulture, and it is leading area in the development of high-technological agriculture.
However, as quoted from the saying of a leader from Lam Dong DARD towards the written proposal regarding temporarily not deploying the project of spider hybrid silkworm breeding between Lam Dong with KBL Group that: "Though it is understood that this is possibly a new breakthrough in agriculture, especially in the field of sericulture, law is law; because Vietnam has no legal frame in this total brand new field, we should comply with it. It means that temporarily, it is not possible to implement the project. "
Prior to this decision of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, there’s opinion that: Are we missing an opportunity in agricultural development, namely development of sericulture? However, it has been said that such prudence from MARD is essential because the genetic modification still contains itself two sets of conflicting opinions!
Khac Dung / (Lam Dong Paper)