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Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes

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Re: Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes

#191

Post by James001 »

alwaysdoit wrote: post #38

We've done this lots[1] of[2] times[3] when it threatens agriculture, but when it threatens the lives of poor people in third world countries, suddenly we're worried about the ecosystem? There will be an environmental impact, but it will be from hundreds of millions of humans not getting malaria and climbing their way out of property, not from the lack of mosquitoes in the ecosystem. It's still a significant problem,…

The main problem is how do we actually eradicate mosquito's without introducing other severely risks?

For example, one of the popular techniques is releasing genetically modified mosquitoes that are sterile. The problem is we don't know what could happen if/when these modified genes spread into the wider environment

It's a very serious concern, whether or not eradicating mosquitoes will introduce more severe problems

Re: Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes

#192

Post by skybrian »

maaku wrote: post #98
alwaysdoit wrote: post #38

We've done this lots[1] of[2] times[3] when it threatens agriculture, but when it threatens the lives of poor people in third world countries, suddenly we're worried about the ecosystem? There will be an environmental impact, but it will be from hundreds of millions of humans not getting malaria and climbing their way out of property, not from the lack of mosquitoes in the ecosystem. It's still a significant problem,…

Those eradications were paid for by the Department of Agriculture (and equivalent organizations in other regions). Who is going to pay for the mosquito? I'm not objecting. I think we should eradicate the mosquito. But as someone who has worked for the government (albeit a different branch) I know that bureaucrats are not being evil or heartless when they don't allocate funds for necessary work that falls outside of t…

Not really a problem; if everyone is convinced it's safe, the Gates foundation would probably pay for it.

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601213/the-extinction-inv...

Re: Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes

#193

Post by jessaustin »

imakesnowflakes wrote: post #177
slapshot wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> aren't you putting selection pressure on the diseases to be airborne? > an airborne strain does not have an advantage over mosquitoes borne strain There are hundreds of millions of people today who don't currently have malaria, but would be at risk to get malaria if it went airborne. Airborne malaria wouldn't be competing with mosquitoborne malaria. It'd be competing with running out of people to kill. There seems…

Sorry. I have no idea what you are talking about. Are you a biologist/ecologist or someone knowledgeable in the field?

Instead of asking for credentials, just think a little harder. If "airborne malaria" could possibly be a thing, it would already be a thing. Plasmodium isn't a work crew responsible for killing a given number of people every year, after which they relax for a bit, only getting really creative when they fall behind their quota. It is a reproducing species that will reproduce and thrive as much as possible. There is no intelligence guiding mutation. If flying were an option, Plasmodium would be flying.

Your question is like asking, "if we rounded up all the lions in Africa and put them in pens, would they evolve wings to escape?" Yes it's that silly.

Re: Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes

#195

Post by blisterpeanuts »

mrweasel wrote: post #150
hellbanner wrote: post #7

On reddit, I remember seeing something like "Research assures government that killing mosquitos would have no negative effect on world ecology"... right above another thread titled "Scientists underestimate ecological impact of species destruction"... Do we actually understand Mosquitos role in the planet's eco system?

>Research assures government that killing mosquitos would have no negative effect on world ecology Neither would killing of the last few panda (stupid, useless animal), but we wouldn't actually do it. With mosquitoes, do to their large numbers, it would seem like a bit of a gamble. If we're wrong it would be hard to undo killing all the mosquitoes.

Really? Seems like it would be pretty easy to recreate a population of wild type mosquitoes. Just freeze a bunch of eggs.

But that probably won't be necessary. Mosquitoes are too successful to be that easily wiped out. Probably best we can hope for is to get rid of 80-90% of them.

Re: Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes

#196

Post by DanBC »

James001 wrote: post #191
alwaysdoit wrote: post #38

We've done this lots[1] of[2] times[3] when it threatens agriculture, but when it threatens the lives of poor people in third world countries, suddenly we're worried about the ecosystem? There will be an environmental impact, but it will be from hundreds of millions of humans not getting malaria and climbing their way out of property, not from the lack of mosquitoes in the ecosystem. It's still a significant problem,…

The main problem is how do we actually eradicate mosquito's without introducing other severely risks? For example, one of the popular techniques is releasing genetically modified mosquitoes that are sterile. The problem is we don't know what could happen if/when these modified genes spread into the wider environment It's a very serious concern, whether or not eradicating mosquitoes will introduce more severe problems

How do sterile mosquitos spread their genes?

(Genuine question! I don't know what the risk is)

Re: Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes

#197

Post by girishso »

alwaysdoit wrote: post #38

We've done this lots[1] of[2] times[3] when it threatens agriculture, but when it threatens the lives of poor people in third world countries, suddenly we're worried about the ecosystem? There will be an environmental impact, but it will be from hundreds of millions of humans not getting malaria and climbing their way out of property, not from the lack of mosquitoes in the ecosystem. It's still a significant problem,…

You should definitely checkout - GEM mosquito control - if protecting environment is your real concern.

http://www.appropedia.org/GEM_mosquito_control

Re: Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes

#198

Post by maxerickson »

MrArtichaut wrote: post #186
nemothekid wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> just because we don't like them? It's bit stronger than "we don't like them" > Maybe we should invest in proactive body defenses against virus instead of just killing some random things. Invest more than the billions that billions that Bill Gates has already invested?

And do you think Bill Gates would approve killing whole species ? I honestly don't known but he seems to be a very clever guy and eradicating species doesn't sound to be a clever solution and really not a good long term solution. What if you break a whole ecosystem ? What if those mosquitoes contain invaluable genes for future medicine? What if they offer a unique window on the evolution of insects? But hey, who care…

The Gates foundation funds efforts to eradicate polio and malaria.

He's written about it:

https://www.gatesnotes.com/Health/Eradicating-Malaria-in-a-G...

Re: Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes

#200

Post by SFJulie »

let's give mixomatose to all rabbits to try to eradicate them all.... Well, long story short, Australia is still full of rabbits and this disease has been introduced in Europe by an idiot and it is still harming the ecosystem. Adaptation sux.
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