[deleted]
It's nice that you cited the source, but what he says should be taken with a grain of salt on account of he's just a random redditor, and his name is "Mr_ButtyPoophole".
Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage
31–40 of 142 posts
Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage
#32[deleted]
According to every reply to that comment, it was reduced to match the WHO standard.
[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/3xz6hu/brazil_de...
[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/3xz6hu/brazil_de...
Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage
#33[deleted]
And if you read further down, another reddit comment claims that it's for making sure hospitals have the resources to test everyone that most likely has the problem. There's also more information that Brazil is simply adopting WHO guidelines.
Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not to be harsh did you read the article I linked to? Basically it shows us how we can wipe out all mosquitos for good without any pesticides or on going costs (it is a one-and-done approach). A world with no mosquito borne disease sounds like a pretty good idea to me. To head off the ecological discussion about using this technology, mosquitos that carry human disease play no important ecological role and if every s…
I have yet to study if these pests have any benefit, so I can only speak from experience. I dislike them intensely. Since you mentioned a possible solution, I checked to see how well it could do in terms of simplicity, effectiveness, and efficiency. From what I could tell, it would require an impractical[0,1,2] approach; and since I live among mosquitoes, I need to guard against illnesses like these. 0: overly-comple…
In regards your three points
0. CRISPR-Cas9 is an amazing simple system that has worked in every species tested. It really is not an issue to generate gene drivers for every species we want to go after.
1. How do you know it is ineffective? Do you understand how a gene driver system works? Arguments against attempting to control nature are rather weak - modern life is a successful attempt to control nature.
2. This is the genius of gene drivers. You let them go and they do all the work for you. We only have to release the driver into the mosquito population and it will do everything from there on its own.
This technology really is a massive game changer - we just have to be brave enough to use it.
Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage
#35[deleted]
It's nice that you cited the source, but what he says should be taken with a grain of salt on account of he's just a random redditor, and his name is "Mr_ButtyPoophole".
Poster cited (Portuguese) source in update: http://g1.globo.com/bemestar/noticia/2015/12/saude-muda-crit...
Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not to be harsh did you read the article I linked to? Basically it shows us how we can wipe out all mosquitos for good without any pesticides or on going costs (it is a one-and-done approach). A world with no mosquito borne disease sounds like a pretty good idea to me. To head off the ecological discussion about using this technology, mosquitos that carry human disease play no important ecological role and if every s…
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100721/full/466432a.html Yet in many cases, scientists acknowledge that the ecological scar left by a missing mosquito would heal quickly as the niche was filled by other organisms. Life would continue as before — or even better. When it comes to the major disease vectors, "it's difficult to see what the downside would be to removal, except for collateral damage", says insect ecologist…
The collateral damage they are talking about here is avoided human misery and death. This is one sort of collateral damage we can happily live with.
Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
This will be Brazil first (southern) summer having to deal with a triple epidemic (zika virus, dengue and chikungunya fever), all due to the Aedes aegypti mosquito. Translating from a December 11th BBC Brasil article [1]: "Two promising biotech projects have been tested in Brazil over the past few years, however, the results still aren't being felt on a large scale. The first one, betting on an insect inoculation sch…
Yes these approaches have potential - the problem with them is the cost is much higher than using a CRISPR-Cas9 gene drive system. From the BBC article "As the mosquito only lasts a generation, it is necessary that the environment is continuously fed by new GMOs until it reaches the extermination.” This costs a lot of money and would not be able to implemented in most countries. If a country can’t afford to spray the…
Have we ever on-purpose driven another species to extinction in order to save ourselves?
Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage
#38Until last week, there was a popular conspirancy linking these increasing cases of brain damage to vaccines.
Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm from the Bay but lived all over Brazil during several years and never once saw window screens. Brazilians tell me they exist, though this goes against the very wide-array of living arrangements I had while there.
What did you see them using? What do you mean by "very wide-array of living arrangements"?
They didn't use anything, aside from sprays and the sometimes-seen electric tennis racket.
Well, I have yet to find a Brazilian who has lived in as many places (in Brazil) as I have, either number of neighborhoods (15+) or cities (5). Also, I lived in many slums, in many middle class apartments, in a few upper-class places and even some hostels.
Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage
#40The sooner we get serious and start to deal with mosquitos the better. We already know what needs to be done [1], now all we need to do is get on with. How many millions of people have to die before we solve the problem of mosquito borne disease once and for all. Are we really going to sit around for decades debating if we should use this technology or not? Edit. For those who want to understand more about this gene…
My wife works in research on vector borne disease, mostly mosquito carried viruses. Oddly, bourbon, heartland and lacrosse are becoming more interesting because they impact Americans. Many people have never even heard if them. Dengue, chikungunya, zika kill more people and are better known but they don't kill the people that fund the research.
It's an ugly situation. Dengue in particular was a real mess until relatively recently, like they didn't even gave consistent mechanisms to detect it or identify the different subtypes. Like you might test positive if cdc tested your blood but negative if a doctor in South America tests you. Really one of two things would be best for it, either climate change brings it in to Europe and North America or some tropical countries become serious enemies so the DOD takes it more seriously since they'll plan on fighting in places with it.