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Brazilians welcome genetically-modified mosquito to help fight dengue fever

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Re: Brazilians welcome genetically-modified mosquito to help fight dengue fever

#31

Post by marcosdumay »

blisterpeanuts wrote: post #20
argc wrote: post #6

I am not afraid of GM stuff, but does anyone else think this idea is potentially really dumb? What about everything that relies on these mosquitoes as a food source? I am not an expert... but trying to just kill off an entire species sounds like a TERRIBLE idea...

The aedes aegyptus is an invasive species in the Americas and should be eradicated. There are about 3000 species of mosquitoes in the world, of which three bear deadly disease: 1. Anopheles (malaria, elephantiasis, and encephalitis) 2. Culex (encephalitis, elephantiasis, and West Nile virus) 3. Aedes (yellow fever, dengue, and encephalitis) Asian Tiger mosquitoes are a subspecies of Aedes. If we were to wipe out thes…

First, I'd like to point that those are gender, not species. Those together add to thousands of species, and you forgot at least about Lutzomyia.

That said, I completely agree that we should get rid of them. And think it's more likely than you stated, if we can extinguish so many species, it can't be so much harder to do it on purpose. Currently we are barely trying, with techniques from the earlier XX century.

Re: Brazilians welcome genetically-modified mosquito to help fight dengue fever

#32

Post by brianbreslin »

argc wrote: post #6

I am not afraid of GM stuff, but does anyone else think this idea is potentially really dumb? What about everything that relies on these mosquitoes as a food source? I am not an expert... but trying to just kill off an entire species sounds like a TERRIBLE idea...

There was a national science foundation study a few years back that suggested if you removed ALL mosquitos from the earth, there were in nearly EVERY case alternative food supplies for animals that currently eat mosquitos.

http://blog.chron.com/sciguy/2010/07/scientists-go-ahead-kil...

Re: Brazilians welcome genetically-modified mosquito to help fight dengue fever

#33

Post by marcosdumay »

greenyoda wrote: post #8
argc wrote: post #6

I am not afraid of GM stuff, but does anyone else think this idea is potentially really dumb? What about everything that relies on these mosquitoes as a food source? I am not an expert... but trying to just kill off an entire species sounds like a TERRIBLE idea...

And, as the article points out, killing off this one species may not even halt the spread of dengue fever: "Then there’s the possibility that as Aedes aegypti mosquitos are killed off, other species will just take their place. Phil Lounibous, an insect ecologist at the University of Florida, says getting rid of Aedes aegypti won’t necessarily solve the dengue problem. 'The so-called Asian Tiger mosquito is (also) ver…

It's a big and slow mosquito, seems very badly adapted to here (but somehow, it spreads at cities).

Why, between several thousands of other species, do people keep pointing that this one will grow to fill the aegypti's niche?

Re: Brazilians welcome genetically-modified mosquito to help fight dengue fever

#34

Post by bernawil »

brianbreslin wrote: post #29
bernawil wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Third world countries are also mechanized. All of South America grows soybeans. It's Round Up all over. I'm from Argentina and can assure you that since early 00's soybean export taxes have paid at least one-third of the gov. budget.

Argentina is running into issues with land going fallow now from too much Soy, and not enough crop rotation last I heard. Or is that not correct?

I think this is true for marginal zones (low quality soil) where there shouldn't be soy but that's the only crop that will make a profit. Part of the problem is the insane taxation. With the costs of growing other crops I guess it's not that bad, it's not good soil anyway. The good zones are doing OK.

Not an expert, so take it with a grain of salt.

Re: Brazilians welcome genetically-modified mosquito to help fight dengue fever

#36

Post by hrjet »

rdl wrote: post #14
ggreer wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The people behind this program aren't fools. They're experts who have given a lot of thought to this problem. Some basic points should alleviate your fears. First, the mosquito they're trying to eradicate is a non-native species. Second, said mosquito is the primary vector for Dengue fever, which infects hundreds of thousands and kills hundreds in Brazil every year. Even if this mosquito was native to South America,…

Scientists studied getting rid of all mosquitoes globally, and came to the conclusion it wouldn't have much of a negative impact (and a huge net positive for due ending malaria, dengue, etc.) Nothing eats exclusively mosquitoes, and those animals (birds) which do eat them could just switch to other insects, which generally are not in short supply. http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100721/full/466432a.html I'd do it in…

> those animals (birds) which do eat them could just switch to other insects

If those animals can switch, so can bacteria and virii switch their carriers.

Re: Brazilians welcome genetically-modified mosquito to help fight dengue fever

#37

Post by PhasmaFelis »

argc wrote: post #6

I am not afraid of GM stuff, but does anyone else think this idea is potentially really dumb? What about everything that relies on these mosquitoes as a food source? I am not an expert... but trying to just kill off an entire species sounds like a TERRIBLE idea...

> What about everything that relies on these mosquitoes as a food source?

Nothing in the world relies on mosquitoes as a food source. Some insectivores will happily eat mosquitoes if they can get them, but mainly feed on other species.

Mosquitoes also play a role in pollination in some areas, but, again, all mosquito-pollinated plants are more reliably pollinated by other local insects.

Re: Brazilians welcome genetically-modified mosquito to help fight dengue fever

#38

Post by eqdw »

jrkelly wrote: post #22
rdl wrote: post #16

I wish the GMO developers had initially focused on products which were end-user or publicly beneficial like this, vs. just raising yields or reducing pesticide use (which are end user and societally beneficial, but can be cast by opponents as economic arguments). Without the existing anti-GMO movement, GMO would have a much easier time getting adoption in cases where it's essentially unambiguously a win (like this on…

The very first commercial application of GMOs was recombinant insulin for diabetics. Followed by a slew of other drugs - GMOs now make 50% of drugs (all the protein ones). The agriculture applications came 5-10 years later as plants were harder to engineer than microbes.

My girlfriend is diabetic. Her mom is pretty stereotypical anti-GMO hippie type. To me, the irony is delicious.

Course, then I realize that my girlfriend's mom is essentially anti- her living and it stops being funny

Re: Brazilians welcome genetically-modified mosquito to help fight dengue fever

#39

Post by eqdw »

hrktb wrote: post #12
icegreentea wrote: post #4

A common fear when deploying systems like this is that we are somehow tampering with nature, and that given our inability to predict outcomes, we should therefore err to the side of caution. I typically agree with this line of thought. However, in this particular context, something to strongly consider is that Aedes aegypti isn't native to South America. As implied by its name, it's native to Africa. We (humans) brou…

As mosquito related problems are just plain hard and in this context ther is no other viable solution, I also think the usual fear is less important in this context. But for the sake of the argument, the fact that this mosquito comes from Africa doesn't really matter so much, as the consequences of this operation could go from making it immune to this gene, make it mutate in a different/worse direction, or have the e…

Where I'm from, the city routinely carpet-bombs the city with pesticides (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malathion). This is pretty contentious, especially since it's primarily for pest control and not actually for health reasons.

GMO tech that lets us stop breathing in all that delicious malathion is a good thing, in my books

Re: Brazilians welcome genetically-modified mosquito to help fight dengue fever

#40

Post by lovemenot »

ggreer wrote: post #9
argc wrote: post #6

I am not afraid of GM stuff, but does anyone else think this idea is potentially really dumb? What about everything that relies on these mosquitoes as a food source? I am not an expert... but trying to just kill off an entire species sounds like a TERRIBLE idea...

The people behind this program aren't fools. They're experts who have given a lot of thought to this problem. Some basic points should alleviate your fears. First, the mosquito they're trying to eradicate is a non-native species. Second, said mosquito is the primary vector for Dengue fever, which infects hundreds of thousands and kills hundreds in Brazil every year. Even if this mosquito was native to South America,…

>> If this outbreak was happening in your country, hurting your family, killing your friends, I doubt you'd be so loath to support GM solutions.

That's an appeal to shame. It's true that people are generally selfish. And not only those in the developed world. It's also true that, when under physical duress, people can be made to support just about any immoral, illegal or just plain bad idea. Just because the majority of those opposing it are not the same people as those who most stand to benefit directly it does not follow that, in this case, using GM is fine.

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