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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

#51

Post by ekianjo »

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.

Yeah, for diabetics that was a major revolution. A simple explanation on how it is done here: http://www.iptv.org/exploremore/ge/what/insulin.cfm

Glargine is one of the key recombinant products out there.

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

#52

Post by wprl »

a_bonobo wrote: post #50
wprl wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, GMO tomatoes have poor flavor and too taut a texture…

I'd like to see the citation on that (there are no GM tomatoes on the market), I'd also like to add that the 'watery', huge, flavour-poor tomatoes you often get in Europe have been created by traditional non-GM breeding: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2012/06/2... There have been efforts to create GM-tomatoes with better taste, here's one example from 2007: http://www.scientificamerican.com/articl…

Citation: my taste buds.

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

#53

Post by wprl »

wprl wrote: post #46
wyager wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Green revolution did, but that wasn't GMO. The green revolution did a lot of good, but GMO is potentially doing even more. Have you looked at modern strains of GM rice? That stuff is absolutely amazing. Incredibly drought and flood resistance, and can thrive in a huge range of environmental conditions. As GMO tech progresses, we'll probably just see better and better stuff. Imagine plants with antifreeze proteins to…

As GMO tech progresses, we are seeing strange side effects like interference with the monarch butterfly and bees, soil depletion, a drive for deeper genetic modification as weeds and insects adapt to old versions, a draconian patent structure effecting farmer livelihood, just to name a few problems. Who would blame anyone for choosing food over starvation? But GMO is not a solution for the world, and it is not a sust…

It's always nice when people down vote you instead of vocalizing their disagreement.

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

#54

Post by gcb0 »

no they dont welcome it. it happens under they ignorant apathy. the region where that happens in brazil is our red neck equivalent.

some politician just choose to spend a few millions on a british company (and recive the usual 10% back under the table as consultancy in the next year or so) instead of spending half of that in social programs that would have a permanent outcome instead of this joke.

but since politics in those states are viewed like something magical and out of reach of the common folk, nobody cares

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

#55

Post by windsurfer »

gcb0 wrote: post #54

no they dont welcome it. it happens under they ignorant apathy. the region where that happens in brazil is our red neck equivalent. some politician just choose to spend a few millions on a british company (and recive the usual 10% back under the table as consultancy in the next year or so) instead of spending half of that in social programs that would have a permanent outcome instead of this joke. but since politics…

Do you have any sources? I, for one, welcome our new self-destructing mosquito overlords.

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

#56

Post by YokoZar »

wprl wrote: post #52
a_bonobo wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd like to see the citation on that (there are no GM tomatoes on the market), I'd also like to add that the 'watery', huge, flavour-poor tomatoes you often get in Europe have been created by traditional non-GM breeding: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2012/06/2... There have been efforts to create GM-tomatoes with better taste, here's one example from 2007: http://www.scientificamerican.com/articl…

Citation: my taste buds.

So where are you getting the GM tomatoes?

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

#57

Post by jimworm »

I've recently been thinking about the possibility of a genetic disease for mosquitoes, transmitted down male lines but killing only females of the same brood, with the intended result that a relatively small release of males can cause an extreme imbalance in the sex ratio and possibly the elimination of mosquitoes from an area.

The different mechanisms of mosquito sex determination aside, I haven't been able to work out something that might be feasible. Wondering if anybody else had similar ruminations, and if you'd share some of your thoughts?

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

#58

Post by chr1 »

wprl wrote: post #46
wyager wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Green revolution did, but that wasn't GMO. The green revolution did a lot of good, but GMO is potentially doing even more. Have you looked at modern strains of GM rice? That stuff is absolutely amazing. Incredibly drought and flood resistance, and can thrive in a huge range of environmental conditions. As GMO tech progresses, we'll probably just see better and better stuff. Imagine plants with antifreeze proteins to…

As GMO tech progresses, we are seeing strange side effects like interference with the monarch butterfly and bees, soil depletion, a drive for deeper genetic modification as weeds and insects adapt to old versions, a draconian patent structure effecting farmer livelihood, just to name a few problems. Who would blame anyone for choosing food over starvation? But GMO is not a solution for the world, and it is not a sust…

The problem is that indigenous populations are sustainable only while they are very sparse. There is no way current 7 bln people could live on earth without GMO tech progress.

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

#60

Post by riffraff »

some time ago I read about a similar approach (used for malaria, I think) basically the GM mosquitoes have a "beak" too small for the plasmodium to get through and infect people.

Once they interbreed with the anopheles the mosquitoes basically stop being transmitters of malaria.

It seems slightly less likely to be something that comes back and bite us in the ass than eradicating a species from the ecosystem.

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