Kraig Biocraft Laboratories Inc (KBLB)

[Eskaminagaga]

Now that is interesting, thank you for sharing.

After decades of research, several major hurdles remain before spider silk technologies are commercialized. “The worms we have now make about five percent spider silk and ninety-five percent silkworm silk in their cocoons,” says Lewis. They need to reach a threshold of 20 to 30 percent spider-silk protein before he would feel confident that bulletproof-silk vests could be a commercially viable reality. He also warns that “the gene is not as stable as we would like … after several generations the amount of spider protein starts to drop.”

If and when he is successful, Lewis will have to face the FDA approval process before he can begin scaling up his operations, which is stringent when it comes to genetically modified organisms. Silk moths have been domesticated for so long they can no longer fly, which Lewis believes should ease any concerns that the public or regulatory bodies may have over the novel genetic material getting off the farm and into the food chain. “They have these little bitty wings and I guarantee you, they are never going to get off the ground … the odds of them getting out into the wild are zero.”

So, it seems Lewis is still having trouble with his silkworms.

What interested me the most is that he is concerned with FDA approval. I had thought that that would only be necessary if used in medical or food applications, not necessarily textiles. Thats maybe why Kim is trying to take his business to Vietnam. I wonder how Entogenetics is planning on getting around this...

But it may be a while before villagers in Cambodia are raising spider silk-emitting worms, if ever. Even if the technology is eventually proven successful, the business models surrounding genetically engineered organisms may preclude small, subsistence-style farmers — who currently produce almost all of the world’s raw silk — from ever accessing the improved silkworm eggs. “In all likelihood, there would be a very restricted number of growers that would be very tightly controlled,” says Lewis of the corporate structure he envisions to protect the intellectual property rights of the genetic material. “Let’s be honest, there are parts of the world where they would have no concerns over taking the technology themselves and turning around and selling those products.”

In Lewis’ estimation, taking the technology overseas seems unlikely at best. Since there is currently no form of commercial silk production in the United States whatsoever, it begs the question of who will be growing the worms if, and when, FDA approval is granted. Will highly profitable spider-silk farming operations begin popping up domestically?

It seems pretty obvious to me that Lewis is poking at Kim in this statement. I agree it is a bit of a risk, but hopefully it will pay out for us all.