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In 1957, Warwick E. Kerr released a plague on mankind. So strange, so deadly, that news broadcasts were everywhere, and fear ran rampant. It's the stuff vintage sci-fi movies are made of: A scientist's project escapes from the lab! A biologist, working to create a kindler, gentler bee, accidentally releases 26 queen bees, who are not as kind & gentle as hoped. In fact, it is known that these 26 bees are the rogue-type. Yet as they are still carrying those precious genes for further breeding & study, they are kept alive as mere pawns in Southern Brazil's quest for a harder working, well-suited for the climate, & docile worker bee.
It took some time for the Brazilian scientists to realize they needed to tell the scientific community, I guess, or else those darn bees killed unimportant animals & people because it wasn?t until the 1970s that "killer bee" mania hit the world, in full force. At first, self-absorbed Americans, and many other nations, took in news broadcasts of these deaths with the same sort of removed fascination -- it was a shocking good story, but it was 'over there.' That is until, they realized bees could fly.
Forget about the rational scientific evidence that the process of bee arrival to the United States would take decades, & that climate issues as well as bees breeding with our genetically gentler bees would reduce problems, citizens were alarmed. Naturally, the nation's leading institute of brain power, a think-tank if you will, took on the challenge. Armed with nothing but the power of their minds, and the medium of television, these smart souls took on the duty of alerting Americans, educating them to the present situation, and allying their fears. In 1975, this team of brilliant minds issued the following bulletin:
Ok, so they weren?t educating, they were mocking. But they *did* ally the population's fears with comedy, and I dare you to say they weren't brilliant! The cast & guest stars of Saturday Night Live (John Belushi, Laraine Newman, Dan Aykroyd, Garrett Morris, Neil Levy, Tom Schiller and Elliot Gould) donned yellow & black stripped costumes, complete with springy antennas topped off with yellow ping pong balls to become a rowdy group of surly Mexican banditos bees. They toted machine guns, drove motorcycles, & provided us with such classic lines as "Your pollen or your wife, Senor!"
Commercialization: Proof of a nation on it's way to healing. The perfect breeding ground for Hollywood, ey? In 1978, killer bees inspired 70's disaster film maker Irwin Allen (Airport, The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno) to make arguably one of the best 'worst movies' of all time, The Swarm.
As such, little is known of the killer bee situation in the US. Where are they now? Brazil is quite happy with their kiler bees, thank you. It seems they are to thank for killer cups of coffee, and so provide a nice economic return. It seems these bees also offer improved pollination for thousands of other species of flowering plants, so the scientists are as happy as the coffee business folk. But, of course, the bees have moved beyond Brazil as well. As of 2002, they had spread from Brazil south to northern Argentina, and north to South & Central America, Mexico, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico & Southern California. They are spreading north at a rate of almost two kilometers a day. It seems as if the scientists were right - the killer bees are gentler here. Now content to head-but warnings first, they are not the same fear inducing menace they once were. But then, Saturday Night Live isn't what it once was either... For more on Africanized Honey Bees, or 'killer bees,' you may read here.
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Anyhow, as luck would have it, those darn bees escaped. The biologists in Brazil watched & monitored as they could, to see what would happen. The bees breed, of course, and passed along the nasty gene, and an apparent defensiveness to protect the hive. (Who can blame them when mom was abducted & forced to submit to probes, turn their off-spring over, & lord knows what else!) These 'defensive' bees, as they called, swarm & attack when the area near their hives is approached. And yes, things die.
Panic over the estimated time until loved ones would perish beneath a swam of bees ensued. The stories, along with the scientific ponderings, and less face it, the all-important 'fear factor,' inspired human imagination to the typical heights, or lows, of creativity.
"We interrupt this (radio) program to bring you this bulletin from the news room. Swarms of South American Killer Bees have been spotted crossing the border into California. Sightings have mostly been confined to rural areas....Eyewitnesses say that the bees are yellow and black and dress much the way Eli Wallach did in the movie, The Magnificent Seven (1960). The bees are also overweight...(radio clicks off)."
Americans felt better. They laughed, they cried, they bought the ensuing merchandise.
Despite the fact that nearly every member of 
