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Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage

#131

Post by powertower »

tzs wrote: post #88
powertower wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just 40 years ago "global warming" was called "global cooling", and an ice-age apocalypse was predicted. Imagine if the powers-that-be decided to do global scale climate geo-engineering by dispersing chemicals into the atmosphere (to increase the temperature). > We already know what needs to be done [1], now all we need to do is get on with. The good old thinking that you know everything and can't be wrong almost gua…

> Just 40 years ago "global warming" was called "global cooling", and an ice-age apocalypse was predicted That's rather misleading. As noted in the Wikipedia article on "global cooling" [1], which I know you are aware of because you cited it in the original version of your comment: This hypothesis had little support in the scientific community, but gained temporary popular attention due to a combination of a slight d…

The predominant theory with the media and general public was Global Cooling. You can quickly see this using Google Image Search and the news clippings ("Global Cooling").

Or just check this compilation - http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/03/01/global-cooling-compila...

The point is they thought they were also very right.

Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage

#132

Post by protomyth »

rdtsc wrote: post #86
sitkack wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We were trying to exterminate the American Indian.

I implied it only, but yes that I believe that was the goal.

Pretty much the goal with the secondary goal to force the Native Americans to stay on the reservations where food was distributed (couldn't give good farm land to them else they might get self sufficient).

Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage

#133

Post by protomyth »

TheCondor wrote: post #40
danieltillett wrote: post #9

The 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 relativ…

Didn't one or more of Dengue, chikungunya, zika make it to the US Virgin Islands? I would imagine that would get some well off Americans to take notice.

Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage

#134

Post by ams6110 »

danieltillett wrote: post #79
purpled_haze wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The world needs more bats. While bats will eat other more nutritious insects like moths, wasps, etc. before mosquitos, they can help control the mosquito population in areas where there are many mosquitos, and most of the insects they get rid of are a nuisance to humans: http://www.mosquito.org/faq#bats

While I am generally pro-bat, I don’t think bats are going to solve the mosquito borne disease problem. If DDT couldn’t do it then bats aren’t going to be able to either.

DDT almost did it, then it was banned.

Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage

#135

Post by mixmastamyk »

saint_fiasco wrote: post #123
mixmastamyk wrote: post #47

This isn't the first dangerous disease spread by mosquitos, and may not be the last. Not to mention how incredibly annoying they are in general. I've been to Brazil a number of times, and the thing I could never understand is why, in a tropical country knee-deep in hungry disease causing mosquitos, is there not a single screen on any of the windows there? Big mistake, they're not expensive. They are cheaper and safer…

It's because the Aedes Aegypty mosquito feeds during the day. Most mosquitos prefer to feed during the night so fortifying your house against them works, but this mosquito will just bite you the next morning when you leave the house.

They still reduce exposure. One might be at an office during the day. If not, you are free to continue with the repellent, it's not like it is a binary choice.

Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage

#136

Post by djsumdog »

adaml_623 wrote: post #125
djsumdog wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most counties don't have window screens. They've rare I'm Europe, Australia, New Zealand, etc. Most of those places also don't have residential air conditioning either.

Just a heads up that your second sentence doesn't parse. "They've rare I'm Europe, Australia, New Zealand, etc" I'll add that they are ubiquitous in Australia in my experience and non existent in Europe... again in my experience

Sorry, s/I'm/in/

I lived in Melbourne and never had them in my place and most of my friends didn't. Now that I think about it, my friends in Alice had screen doors and possibly screened windows. Of course they had Aircon too cause...well...Alice

Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage

#137

Post by nonbel »

danieltillett wrote: post #118
robbiep wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't seen the paper. Was it referenced in this thread? If you're just genetically engineering the mosquito to be unable to transmit the virus, I can't see the harm in it. But if you are releasing a virus to act as your vector for genetic modification of the mosquitos, then I would think that has the potential to veer wildly off plan

The paper is linked at the top of this whole thread. The technology could be used to prevent transmission or drive the mosquitos to extinction. Preventing transmission is harder because there are so many diseases to prevent. How do you think it might veer wildly off plan?

Can you explain what the advantage of the gene drive system is here? Looking at the paper, I see "Cassette exchange progeny" was only successful 0.05-0.38% of the time (table 1). So they need ~10,000 flies to get 10 mutants. Then in Supp Figure 3 I see detection of the "modified" DNA in the WT flies, and Figure 1c shows a good proportion of WT flies (denoted as "+/+" in that figure) were infertile as well!

So it seems if we just select those pre-existing infertile mutants we can get the same effect as using all these gene modification and gene drive techniques. I don't see what the advantage is supposed to be.

Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage

#138

Post by cromwellian »

cromwellian wrote: post #77

Tit-for-tat? https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27844-modified-mosqui... We release GM mosquitoes that sabotage development of mosquito newborn, and they transmit virus which sabotages ours?

It's an interesting coincidence, not a serious suggestion for those who are downvoting.

Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage

#139

Post by Nano2rad »

themartorana wrote: post #37
danieltillett wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Neanderthals. Perhaps it can be considered first world war.
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